Legend of Fairy Tail: Twilight Hero
by TheDTL
Summary: After Link defeats Ganondorf, he is whisked away to a magical world different from his own. The growing threat of darkness calls for a hero to suppress it, and the Hero of Twilight answers the call. Basically a sequel to Twilight Princess.
1. Prologue: Darkness Falls

**Prologue: Darkness Falls**

A bolt of light streaked through the air towards it's target, the master of darkness, and the Bearer of Power, Ganondorf. "AUGH," the dark figure yelled as his shoulder was pierced by the arrow of purest light. As he rode his black steed towards his opponents on their mount, his focus was lost as the light engulfed his body. His senses remained though, as he felt the sword of the rider on the front of the oncoming horse swing hard into his chest. The force of the blow was powerful enough to finally take him from his own horse's saddle after the long, arduous battle the two had waged on horseback.

Ganondorf hit the ground and rolled to his feet. The wizard turned to see his opponent's horse a distance away from him, turning once more to face him. He saw the princess riding on the back of the horse materialize another accursed light arrow into her bow. Ganondorf clenched his fist as a dark energy built up in his hand. "I won't go so easily, your highness," he growled as he furiously threw a ball of pure darkness at his two opponents.

At the same time, Princess Zelda released her arrow from her bow, aimed squarely at the glowing scar in Ganondorf's chest. The two magical attacks of light and dark passed one another as they flew through the air towards their targets. Ganondorf was not only a powerful wizard, but an adept warrior. He focused his mind as soon as he saw the arrow come into being, and in a single burst, he dodged the projectile and his own went right into the rider's chest. The rider was blown backwards, thus knocking Zelda off as well. One yelled in pain while the other shouted in surprise.

The two young fighters got to their feet, rubbing their sore backsides, as their horse turned to return to her master's side. Ganondorf slowly approached the two, appraising them. One, he knew as Princess Zelda, the Bearer of Wisdom and ruler of Hyrule. She was a user of powerful magic, which he had the chance to use for himself when he possessed her.

The other, however, was previously unknown to him. The other, he only knew about through the reports of his underlings. He was Link, the so-called 'Hero of Twilight,' and more importantly, the Bearer of Courage. Link was the one who had laid waste to his forces over the course of a few months. The lone warrior who beat his minion Zant, liberated the land of the magic of Twili, collected the forgotten magic of the fused shadow and restored the link between the worlds of light and darkness.

"Impressive teamwork, you two. To come this far only to fail at my hands," Ganondorf said with a confident smirk.

Link dusted off his trousers before speaking. "Funny that you say that, considering I'm three and 0," Link threw back.

"Only a fluke," Ganondorf said with a chuckle, "My skills are superior to yours."

"Getting knocked off your horse is a skill. Even I could do that better," Link quipped.

At this point, it would have been easy to simply destroy these two, but the conversation was starting to become amusing to Ganondorf, so he felt like he wanted to keep it going. With a toothier smile he responded to Link's question, "That normally doesn't happen to me, but I'm afraid that when your horse passed by me, one of her hairs fell off and passed by my nose, making me sneeze."

"It sounded more like a 'kyaa.'" Zelda giggled as she straightened her skirt.

"And given how similar you two are in voice and appearance, I'm not sure which one of you was screaming in pain, and which was yelling in surprise," Ganondorf replied with a smug grin. The response he got was another giggle from Zelda, but an indignant huff from Link.

"Did he just call me girly," Link said as he indicated Ganondorf, one hand on his hip.

"I did," came Ganondorf's blunt reply.

"He did," Zelda echoed Ganondorf, "And that dainty way you're standing isn't helping," she pointed out to Link.

"You'd know all about 'dainty' wouldn't you," Link shot to Zelda, now making her indignant.

"Excuse me," she said as she mirrored Link's feminine stance, "I'm one of the most powerful mages in Hyrule! How dainty is that?"

Link took a gentlemanly bow to Zelda as he took her hand in his. "Apologies, dear lady. Perhaps you would like to unwind with a hot bath and a silken gown?" Zelda couldn't help but flush red, knowing how right Link was.

Link and Ganondorf both had a chuckle at Zelda's flustered look, but the dark wizard needed to cut this all short. With a burst of magic, he manifested a barrier of pure darkness around Link and himself. Zelda and Epona both backed off as the dark walls burst up in front of them. Seeing Link separated from herself, Zelda manifested another light arrow into her bow and fired at the barrier. However, what happened was that the arrow simply burst into a flash that momentarily blinded her. When her vision cleared, she saw the two men staring each other down, swords drawn.

"You can't beat me, boy," Ganondorf said, his voice losing any of it's previous joviality, "I am the bearer of the Triforce of Power! I am power! And in the end, wisdom and courage always give way to what they can't overcome."

"That's not true," Zelda yelled from her side of the barrier. Ganondorf only flashed his beastly smile when he heard her.

"Isn't it," he inquired, "Link: how could you have overcome your trials and tribulations on courage alone when you were vastly outnumbered by opposing forces? Was it not power that helped you past them all?" Ganondorf turned his attention to Zelda, "And Zelda: when Zant invaded your castle, was it your wisdom that drove back his forces? Oh, I'm sorry. You surrendered. And why was that? It was because you lacked the necessary power to protect others."

Link clenched his sword at Ganondorf's words. In a way, he was right. But if one only valued power, as Ganondorf and Zant had, things could only turn bad. "Is that what you did," Link asked the Gerudo king, "Did you turn your back on things like compassion and reason just to become stronger?"

Zelda saw Ganondorf's face change slightly when Link spoke. She saw that somewhere behind that darkness, there was someone who wanted back into the light. She placed her hand against the barrier as she pleaded with her enemy, "Ganondorf, we're all bearers of the Triforce. We should be working together. Be united. Just now, the three of us were all behaving so harmoniously. Do you really want to just throw that aside for personal gain?"

Zelda's words touched something deep in the core of Ganondorf's soul. He couldn't deny that there was a part of him that enjoyed their idle bantering, but the larger, more dominant part of him wanted nothing more than to rule over others. With a beastly roar, he flared his magic into the wall in front of Zelda, knocking her backwards.

The Bearer of Power shouted at Link, "Time to end this!"

"Bring it, Pig-Head," Link yelled back.

The two swordsman shouted their war cries as they dashed towards one another, weapons drawn. Each sought to strike first, Link with his shield on the ready. Ganondorf made the first swing, a powerful horizontal cut intended to shatter Link's defences. Link brought his shield up instead to absorb the blow. He cried out in pain, shield-arm momentarily paralyzed, and forgot his attack.

Ganondorf grinned in anticipation and pressed the attack. He swung his sword again and again, only to have each blow deflected by Link's shield.

Link saw his enemy's eagerness and took advantage of it. With a shout, he sidestepped away and Ganondorf's blow wedged into the ground. Link, pressing his advantage, stepped on Ganondorf's enormous blade. While he was putting his weight on the sword, he had his own weapon drawn back for a jab at his hands. As he lunged his sword forward, Ganondorf released his sword, quickly backpedaling to safety **.**

Ganondorf grabbed Link's arm and punched him in his ribs, the heavy impact knocking all of the breath out of Link. As Link recoiled from the blow, the larger man threw him against the sides of the barrier, making Zelda gasp in horror.

Zelda wished she could do more than just stand by and watch the battle. She pressed her hands against the barrier and built up her light magic. Her hands glowed with a golden light as she concentrated her power to break in. All that happened was that the light magic deflected to the side. She backed away from the wall, wracking her brain for an idea to get in and help Link.

Pain shot through Link's entire body when he impacted the dark wall. His senses snapped to alert when he saw Ganondorf leaping through the air, his fist encased in dark magic to smite him on the ground. Link, mustering his strength and rolled away from the leaping Master of Darkness.

When Link ended his roll, Ganondorf landed in a crater made from his almighty punch. His roll luckily ended near the Master of Darkness's back, so Link sprang upwards with a spiraling jump, swinging his sword to strike Ganondorf's back. The first blow struck. Then a second blow hit home with a satisfying cut.

Ganondorf winced from the two cuts, but his powerful body had endured much over his decades of training. To him, these attacks were simply irritating. Before Link's third cut could be dealt, Ganondorf retaliated with a vicious backhanded blow that once again sent Link flying.

The Hero landed with a solid combat roll backwards sliding his feet into the ground, skidding to a halt. Link looked up to see Ganondorf retrieve his sword, with a look of annoyance on his face. Link rushed at the Bearer of Power, and as soon as he was close enough, Ganondorf swung his sword again. Link nimbly dodged the attack and got one of his feet on his opponent's knee.

Using his momentum, he vaulted over Ganondorf, and spun like a buzzsaw as he executed a Helm Splitter technique. Ganondorf shouted in surprise from the attack at an unexpected angle. Blood trickled down to eyes, staining his vision red and enraging the madman. Ganondorf lunged, swinging his sword wildly. Link parried the wild attacks with his sword and shield awaiting the opening he needed to end his opponent.

Link decided to go on the offensive. With all his might, he returned the fury Ganondorf had given him, gradually breaking the wizard's defenses. Link found the opening he had been looking for, and delivered a powerful spin attack that sent Ganondorf flying. Before Ganondorf even landed, Link jumped into the air after him, his sword raised high and pointed down. Link's sword found it's mark in the air. He pierced Ganondorf's glowing scar, and drove his sword deep into his body when they landed.

Ganondorf spewed blood from his mouth on the sudden impact. The dark barrier dissipated, and Zelda and Epona both rushed to Link's side. Before the could reach him, Link withdrew his sword and somersaulted back to them. With a heavy sigh, he and Zelda both watched as Ganondorf weakly got back to his feet.

The two hylians couldn't help but feel a slight pang of pity for their enemy as he held the gaping wound on his chest. Zelda almost had the urge to go over and help him. But their good will was put aside when they saw the hateful glare Ganondorf was giving them.

Ganondorf agonized over the fatal injury he had just sustained. Through his pain, his mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of how he would destroy the next incarnations of the Golden Goddess and her Chosen Hero. Then he saw something that nearly killed him on the spot.

Looking past Link, Zelda, and their horse, Ganondorf saw someone he never expected to see again. Past them, he saw a figure in dark blue robes, with unnaturally long arms and a deathly pale blue face with eerie, inhuman features. It was his minion: the usurper king of the Twili, Zant.

Zant stared at Ganondorf the way he had always done before, though the smile on his face was no longer one of quiet admiration. Now it was a complacent grin of satisfaction, as if some grudge between the two had just been settled. His smile sent a twitch of fear through Ganondorf's mind, and he understood why Zant had come back to him.

Zant was here to remind Ganondorf that if he had held up his end of their bargain, and resurrected him, he could have been there to save him when he was needed. Regret welled up in Ganondorf's mind as Zant reached out his long arms and clasped his hands on Ganondorf's head.

Neither Link, nor Zelda seemed to notice any of this. It was as if Zant was completely invisible to the two of them. Ganondorf watched as Zant's smile grew steadily more malicious before he suddenly jerked both of their heads to a sharp angle. Two loud snaps sounded, but only one was heard by the hylians.

Another discharge of blood came from Ganondorf's mouth, and he laid down dead on the ground. Link and Zelda both let out a relieved sigh as Link sheathed his sword and gave Epona a small pat on her side. "We've done it, Link," Zelda said to her companion, "We've ended it all."

"Hylians...so short sighted," Zant said disdainfully, as he slowly cracked his head back into place. His voice was unheard, but he was about to make his presence known. Using his powerful magic, Zant tore and unseen hole in the fabrics of space to make a portal, stronger than the previous ones used by the Twili. He grabbed Link by his shoulders and pulled him into the gaping maw of twilight magic.

Link only had time to shout as he was pulled off his feet, and his world turned to black. "Link," Zelda shouted as he got sucked into the portal, making it the last thing Link heard before the portal faded. Zelda could do nothing but mourn for her lost friend.


	2. A Sudden Change of Scenery

**Chapter 1: A Sudden Change of Scenery**

First came the intrusive squawking of a seagull. Then came the gentle crash of ocean surf. The smell of salty air came next and then the soft feel of finely grained mud against his body. Through his grogginess, a small groan came from him as he lifted his head. "Oh...what did I do to get a headache like this?" Feeling wind in his face, Link opened his eyes to see where he was. What he saw before him was an endless expanse of crashing water and the sky dotted with sea birds. The sun was high over his head, indicating the time to be around midday.

Looking out to sea, Link hoped to see a friendly zora hopping through the water who could tell him where he was. But all he could see was the empty sea and the birds overhead. Taking a look around, Link saw that the beach he was on was only a few yards away from a forest with unfamiliar trees and bushes.

Link stood, noticing that something didn't quite feel right. He patted himself down, and found no worrying injuries, aside from the one he sustained while fighting Ganondorf. Everything was fine there, but then something else occurred to him: he felt much lighter than he should. Reaching to his back, Link found his shield and sword both missing. His mind nearly snapped upon this discovery.

"No! This isn't happening," Link quietly panicked to himself. The two pieces of equipment were like living parts of him. The fact that they were missing made it feel like a piece of him had literally gone away. He was very distraught, but not so much that he didn't hear the voices coming from further down the beach.

"From what we've gathered, this should be where that massive magic signature was just now," said one voice.

"Do we have any idea what it was yet," came another.

Link had no way of knowing if the owners of these voices were hostile or not, so he hid in the nearby bushes to wait for the owners. What came into view were five men in black cloaks, all armed with swords. "No, just that it was powerful. And I'm sure that whatever it was, it will make a great sacrifice for Lord Zeref." Definitely hostile.

On any other occasion, Link would have jumped all of them. But as he was now, unarmed and defenseless, he went with his only viable option. He turned around and ran into the woods. The rustling he had made alerted the robed men to his location. "You two, over there," the leader barked an order.

Two of the men investigated and saw Link running deeper into the trees. "Over here," shouted one, prompting all the others to follow. Their chase led them deep into the woods, across rivers, dodging trees and over rocks. The men found it amazing that some kid was able to so easily make his way this far into the woods as if he'd lived there his whole life.

Looking back, Link was surprised that any of these men were able to follow him so closely. "How are they finding me so easily," he thought to himself, "Those dresses they're wearing should've stopped them a long time ago!"

With a sharp turn to the side, Link temporarily lost sight of his pursuers. After a jump over a fallen log, he hid behind a large tree. He could hear the men talking, and it seemed that he had succeeded in losing them. He dared to peek from behind his cover to see where they were going next, but strangely, it seemed they had already gone.

Instead of feeling relieved, Link was made more tense and suspicious. Carefully, he stepped out of his cover and scanned the surrounding area, afraid that he may be seen before he saw them. The sound of wood snapping nearly stopped his heart. He didn't see the source of the noise, making him unsure if it was one of the robed men. But this was no time to take chances. Not when he was exposed in the open.

Link ran even further into the woods, noticing the silence around him. It seemed that he had lost those strange men, but then he noticed something else: the trees around him seemed much bigger than they should be. And even then his body didn't feel right. It wasn't just the fact that his key equipment was missing, as there was something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on. These thoughts kept him from noticing the tree root that was sticking up from the ground, just ready to catch the ankle of a rushing passerby.

With a yelp, Link fell forward onto his face. Looking up, he was greeted by the sight of the robed men surrounding him. There was no escape now from the position he was in. If only he'd learned some kind of unarmed combat he could take a few down and keep running.

Another thing: why did these men look so tall? Link was a decent height at 5' 10", but these men all towered over him. The sight of these giants worried him, but not so much as when he saw the leader brandishing a short whip with with many prongs at the end.

"You have a lot of spirit, boy, running from the likes of us," the leader said as he menacingly patted the whip in his hand, "Unfortunately, that spirit of yours will soon belong to our lord." Link tried to escape by rolling to the side, but he felt one man's foot on his back before he could. "I understand your desire to escape, but a spirit must be broken before it can be made to submit," the leader said as he raised his whip.

Link shut his eyes, anticipating the sting of the blow. What came, however, was a sudden loud noise, a bright flash of light and intense heat as if someone just threw a bomb into their vicinity. The sheer force of the whole thing sent the group of men flying, and Link along with them. He rolled across the forest floor and came to a rough stop against a large rock, hitting his head hard against it. Before he blacked out once again, Link could see a blurry form of a new person coming towards him. He wasn't dressed like any of the men, but other than that, Link couldn't make out much else, besides that he seemed very large. He felt himself being picked up, and soon he faded out once more.

Hours passed, and Link began to awake again. He found himself in a small room, occupying a bed with what appeared to be homemade sheets. Looking around the room, he could see a fireplace that bathed the room in a quaint little glow. There wasn't much else in the room besides a dresser, a small bedside table, and the bed itself. Looking out the window, Link could see the sun had gone down, and nighttime had come. After a brief instance of wondering where he was, a noise came from the door to his room.

Link expected to see the giant who had picked him up, but instead he was greeted by a peculiar sight. In stepped an old man, somewhere in his mid-fifties. His face had strong features, and tanned skin. His hair was black with gray temples. These features were not particularly odd, so much as his attire. He had on a green t-shirt, layered over a white long sleeve shirt. Layered over the t-shirt was a gray waistcoat with pinstripes. His lower body was garbed with baggy, brown trousers and a pair of sandals. To top off his eccentric attire, he wore a black beret on his head. He hobbled over to Link on a cane he held in one hand.

"Awake so soon," the man said in a surprisingly deep voice, "And here I was thinking you'd be out until morning." He stood by the side of the bed and looked Link over for injuries, "How are you feeling, kid?"

"So far, so good," Link said as he rubbed the back of his aching head. As he did, he noticed something odd, "Hey, where's my hat?"

"Hat," the man asked as if he never noticed Link had one, "You mean this?" He held up the hat Link wore ever since he was bestowed the green tunic of the Goddess's chosen hero. Only now it looked like the old man made a few modifications to it. The pointed end of the hat now had what looked like a stuffed bird's head at the end. The beak was long and pointed, and made of some yellow cloth. A white button made the bird's eye. "I saw this lying on the ground and thought it was some kind of craft you were making before those jackasses started chasing you. Figured I'd help it along, but I guess I got carried away."

Normally, Link would have been upset if someone messed with his stuff, but the truth was that he never actually liked that hat. The only reason he even wore was because it was a part of the hero's garbs. But it was ruined now, and there was nothing that could be done to fix it. "Don't worry about it. As far I'm concerned, it's an improvement."

"You think so? Then here," the man said as he plopped the hat on Link's head. As soon as he had, his face changed to a disapproving grimace, "You must not have a strong grasp on the word 'improvement.' You look like a lawn gnome."

Link took the hat off and looked at the bird-like head on the top. "Yeah, in pink I'd look like a flamingo. I've heard them all," he muttered as he tossed the hat into the fireplace.

The strange old man looked at the smoldering hat and nodded, "Smart choice. Speaking of which: what kind of stupid made those men chase you?"

"Weren't we just talking about smart choices," Link said, not exactly following the flow of the conversation.

"No," the old man said, "We're talking about the lack of them, and the crap that happens when you mess with the followers of Zeref!"

Link was becoming more confused by the second. Now he knew who those men were, but this revelation led to more questions: who was Zeref, and what did he want with Link? "Yeah, about that," Link began, "I don't really know who Zeref is. But can I guess that he's a psychotic dictator of his own kingdom who wants to rule over other kingdoms in a conquest to become as powerful as he can?"

"More or less," the old man said with a shrug, "More accurately: he's an immortal dark wizard who's developed four hundred years worth of serious issues and a blistering hatred of all things living. The bastard's guilty of mass murder, corrupting lands, and even crapping out a few demons. He's probably the worst example of a human being who ever lived. If there were any reason to think the world's a rotten place: he's it."

Link took in this information, and his thoughts immediately went to Ganondorf. Though he and Zeref were different, Link couldn't help but notice a few similarities between the two. Link then remembered the men who were chasing him, and how one said that he would make a great sacrifice for Zeref. "This guy, Zeref: he doesn't accept sacrifices, does he?" The old man's face changed to an enlightened smile.

"So, that's why they were after you," he said with a small nod. He decided it would be wise to elucidate the details to the boy, "The psychos who follow Zeref believe that by sacrificing people to their 'mighty' Lord he'll be resurrected to our world." His face changed to a sterner look, "I say that's a load of bull. The only thing I've noticed is they're a bunch of kidnappers and zealots." Link didn't know how to respond to this information. He said nothing, and the old man continued, "But, this is only rumors. Truth is, nobody's ever seen the dark wizard for centuries. Chances are, he's buried himself in a hole somewhere, and those deluded freaks are just working off of blind faith."

Link looked at the ground, his mind in deep thought about what they would do if they had actually caught him. Link looked back up at the man and said, "Do you think he's gone for good," Link said with a shudder. The old man closed his eyes, pensively for a second before he answered.

"Given the lack of any recent sighting, I'd say he's gone."

Link let out a relieved sigh, "Thank the goddesses. Frankly, I've had enough of dark wizards for one lifetime. After all, I'm sure if you've seen one, you've seen them all." This statement made the old man raise a single eyebrow.

"You're saying that you've met with a dark wizard before," he asked inquisitively. It was quite uncommon for anyone to encounter a dark wizard and live to tell about it, so this little tidbit had quite piqued the man's curiosity.

"Met, and defeated," Link said remembering the battle against Ganondorf. He would have felt like boasting, but he was just very nearly made a sacrifice to an evil overlord, and that was rather humbling. Of course that didn't stop him from feeling a little proud of himself, "I actually defeated two, if you count his minion," His scary, scary minion Link thought.

The old man smiled slightly at Link's brief recollection, "That's a tall order for someone as young as you. Most people hit puberty before they go off fighting evil."

"Puberty?! What the hell are you talking about!? I'm seventeen," Link asserted.

"Well, then I don't know if you just age well, or really crappy," the old man said as he held up a mirror that Link swore he didn't have before. What he saw in the reflection was himself, but only how he looked when he was ten years old. Link very nearly passed out again, but as he began to fade the old man grabbed his collar and gave his face two solid smacks with the mirror.

"Oh no you don't! Everything you say makes no sense, and dammit, I'm going to find out why," he said as he shook the wooziness from Link. This seemed to work, as Link rattled his own head and perked up a little, though still a bit shaky from the shock of his renewed youth.

Over the next several minutes, Link elaborated his life in Hyrule, and the adventure he was sent on as the goddesses' chosen hero. The old man said very little, apart from the occasional question, and seemed to linger on every word Link said. During their talk they exchanged each other's names. Link found that the old man's name was Ronno Cronqvist, and he was smith for a nearby village. When Link was finished, Ronno finished with a short summary.

"So, you're a goat herd, who is the reincarnation of an ancient hero, who went to rescue his kidnapped friends, but an imp sidetracked you to liberate her own world from some nutter who took over her throne. That sound about right so far?

"Give or take."

"Mm-hm. And after that, you helped her collect the remainder of a lost magic, then you needed to repair the portal to her world, where the psycho king was killed, and then you went on to defeat his master who just appeared during the eleventh hour of this whole shenanigan, thus saving two worlds, both light and dark, before you came here through a portal made of the same magic your imp friend used?"

"Again, pretty much."

"And, sorry if I'm out of line, but you seem strangely fond of that imp."

Link rubbed the back of his head as he answered, "Yeah, I'll admit there were times when I forgot we were different species, but I could never get past that barrier."

With a sly smile, Ronno continued his questioning, "How did you manage to do all of this? I just can't believe you did this on pure, physical prowess, quick thinking, and just crap-dumb luck," Ronno inquired, "Don't you know any magic?"

"No, but Midna did. She was the management, I was the labor," Link said, remembering his friend's bossy disposition.

"Come on, kid. You must know some kind of magic," Ronno said to Link. Link thought about it for a second, and realized that he did have a kind of magic. He didn't really like to show it to other people, as he was prone to send them into a panic when he did, but Ronno asked to see it, and Link saw no reason to deny him.

Touching the shard of darkness in his pocket, Link's body turned pitch black, and he was momentarily blinded by the darkness that enveloped him. When the darkness burst from his body, he had changed into his wolf form. Link expected to see Ronno's horrified face, but what he saw horrified him. Instead of the old man on a cane, he saw in his place Zant.

Out of everything Link had encountered on his journey, Zant was one of the few things that he was genuinely afraid of. He had seen Zant raise the dead, commit ruthless acts of tyranny, and he even very nearly killed Midna. And through it all, he didn't bat an eye. He just remained cold and emotionless through it all as if he had no inkling of goodwill within him.

That is, until he was confronted in his throne room. There, Zant showed that this was only a facade, and that he was in actuality a raving, erratic, and even somewhat childish madman. This only made him seem scarier to Link, but in the end he and Midna put an end to him.

But here he was again, and he was looking at Link with a smile that made him uneasy. "That's an impressive magic," Zant said, his voice cold, low and steady, "Where exactly did you LEARN IT!?" As he spoke the last words, his calm and collected tone became the lunatic's yell that he used when he revealed his true colors in the Twilight Realm. As he shouted, he sprang forward at Link, his body twisting itself to an unnatural shape, and stopping just in front of the Hero of Twilight.

Link flinched when this happened, and when he refocused Zant had disappeared. Ronno was back where he should be and he was impatiently waiting for an answer, "I said: where exactly did you learn it?" Link took a second to recover from the shock and realized that he wouldn't be able to answer in this form. He quickly changed back to his hylian form to respond.

"I-I didn't actually learn it," Link stammered slightly. It had been a serious shock to his entire system when he saw Zant, and it was going to take a while for him to recover. "It was...given to me by Zant…"

"The psycho king? What did he do, hand it to you and say 'here, have a transformation spell?'"

"It was supposed to be a curse on me, but it backfired in my favor," Link briefly said. The last thing he wanted to do was keep talking about Zant. To his relief, the old man stood up and moved to the door.

"That's a hell of a story. I know a guy who knows a publisher. Keep this up, and you'll be a bestseller," Ronno said as he left.

Link felt indignant that the old man would just brush off his story like that, "Be sure to publish it as _nonfiction_." Sure the story was strange, but he was so serious about it. What could he do to prove it true. Nothing came to mind when Ronno closed the door and Link was left alone in his room. He yawned and realized how worn out he was after everything he'd just gone through. He laid down, and turned to look out the window into the moonlit forest. Thoughts filled his head on how he would get back to Hyrule from here as sleep began to take him.

* * *

Link awoke once again, but he was no longer in the small room from before. Now he was in the Hyrule castle courtyard as it was bathed in twilight, complete with black squares drifting up from the ground. He felt a familiar sense of foreboding, and reflexively reached for his sword and shield, only to find that they were still gone. He began to feel nervous, as he had no means to defend himself. A quick scan, and he saw he was alone here.

"Hello," he called. Maybe there was someone here who could explain things, "Hello?" Still no answer. Maybe the Hero's Shade was here? But then again, there was no golden wolf that he bumped into.

"Hello."

Link wasn't expecting a response to his calls, so he jumped from the sudden answer. He turned around to find the owner of the voice to be Zant. Link nearly lost his footing when he saw him again. The first time, he brushed it off as a kind of delusion, but now a second time, this had to be something more. "So, we meet once more, Hero of Twilight. You've changed since we've last met," Zant said with a sickening smile that sent a shiver down Link's spine. Link fought the urge to puke at the sight of his old enemy. "Are you surprised to see me? Did you think I was done away," he said, almost tauntingly, "No. The power that Ganondorf granted me will never allow me to be truly destroyed. It's the same magic that will ensure his return in the coming years."

Link's mind snapped at Zant's words. Ganondorf was going to return one day? But how? And when? Zant seemed amused by Link's reaction, but offered his reassurance, "You don't have to worry. He won't be back for a very long time. But return he will, just as he's done over and over before."

Link knew he couldn't believe Zant. Here he was, an enemy who was offering guidance, and Link wasn't buying it. Link was very hesitant to talk to his old enemy again, seeing Zant alive "again" was very shocking to our little friend. "Do you expect me to believe anything you say after what you put me and the rest of the world through," Link said, preemptively refuting anything Zant had to say. This was the wrong thing to do apparently, as it seemed to press Zant's crazy button.

"DO NOT SPEAK ON TOPICS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, BOY," Zant yelled in his grating, high-pitched yell. He abruptly teleported to the top of a statue in the courtyard as he dramatically waved his arms about, "LIVES ARE AT STAKE! NATIONS ARE ON THE VERGE OF RUIN!" Zant raved as he maniacally teleported about the ground until he stopped behind Link, causing the young hero to jolt, "DARKNESS WITH FALL ONCE MORE AND PLUNGE ALL EXISTENCE INTO THE FLAMES OF SORROW AND DESTRUCTION!"

Link silently thanked the goddesses as Zant seemed to come down from his lunatic raving.

"Now let's get this straight: you hate me, and words cannot express how much more I hate you," Zant said, now the low, calm voice he used for most of the time Link knew him. "But if we are going to survive in this land, we need to work together." Link had no idea what he meant when he said that, but he decided it was not wise to question him, and allowed him to continue, "From what I have gathered in this world so far: everything is run by magic which you seem to be lacking boy… So troublesome… Do you understand me?!" Zant said, nearly bordering his lunatic yell. He quickly calmed himself down and teleported right in front of Link's face with an evil grin on his face. "That nasty little rock I gave you back in Hyrule? Remember it? It was a piece of magic that I planted in you, but now in this world I can teach you how to unlock it's full potential. Isn't that lovely?"

Link still said nothing, but the look he wore on his face grew more confused by the second, "Why would he want to teach me this? What does he have to gain by this?" Though silent, Zant could read everything in the boy's face.

"Believe me, I don't have much to gain from this," Zant answered, shocking Link, who answered with a sputter. The usurper king smiled with delight at Link before he answered, ""It's perfectly plain to anyone who could see you. Also more so that you do not trust me… Well believe it boy! I'm stuck here with you, so I might as well teach you what I know."

Link couldn't hold his silence anymore. Zant was making even less sense by the second. "What are you up to, Zant? I sincerely doubt that you're just doing this out of the kindness of your heart. Hell, I don't even think you have a heart. Or maybe you do, but just because you ripped it out of someone else's chest!" As he spoke, Link temporarily forgot his fear of Zant, but it all came rushing back to him when he suddenly felt Zant's hand grip his shoulder hard.

"I don't owe you anything but a swift demise,you ungrateful brat." Zant's voice became more of a low growl as he spoke the last words to the troublesome little blonde in front of him."With my former Master gone, vanquished from our world, I have nothing. I have chosen you as my next master, and I expect the master I serve to be powerful. In your own world you are a symbol of triumph, but here you are a worthless novice!"

Zant's words dug into Link's mind. He glared up at his enemy, trying to come up with a brave word to counter Zant's aspersion. Link knew he wasn't weak, but from what he learned from Ronno, and from his own experiences with the followers of Zeref, he knew there was some truth in what the madman said as he released his shoulder. "I'm not any happier about it than you are. But we are both going have to deal with it if we are to survive."

Link looked down at his feet thoughtfully and sighed. "Alright. But we need to set some rules. The first: I'm the one who makes all of the decisions."

"Very well," Zant said simply before Link continued his list of rules.

"Second: no killing any innocents, civilians, or generally anyone who doesn't deserve it. I will be the judge of who or what we have to kill."

"A cutthroat in training, I see. Accepted."

"Third: don't hold anything back. I'm not a child anymore.

"I suppose I'll take your word for that."

"And finally: please don't be Zant. That means no executing others to get your way, keeping your temper under control, and please no twisting your body like you do."

"Does it make you...nauseous," Zant asked as he twisted his body to grotesque proportions, making Link cringe as he did enticing a sick smile from Zant. Zant soon snapped his body to it's correct stance, "Very well, if I truly scare you that much."

"I-I'm not afraid of you," Link said with a stammer, as if it were at all convincing. Zant responded only with a quiet scoff at Link's statement.

"If you're ready, then let's begin."

The two took their places apart from each other, just as Link had done before with the Hero's Shade. The gold-clad skeleton had made Link uneasy whenever he met him, but he always taught him something useful (or sometimes not so useful, depending on the technique). With Zant, the unease felt like it had become full blown paranoia. If Zant was anything like he was before, which all evidence pointed towards, then there was something that he was concocting, just waiting to be unleashed. Link figured that this would become evident, as Zant began to conduct his lesson.

"In your current form you are not able to use Twili magic but your Wolf form will," the former master of Twilight grinned. Link was never able to use magic before in his wolf form, other than what Midna used while riding on his back. This intrigued Link, so he allowed Zant to continue. "So, in order to begin: you must be changed into your beast form."

Things suddenly started making sense to Link, "So, that's it. You just want to trap me in the form of a wolf again. Isn't there a saying about repeating the past?"

"There's another one about old dogs and new tricks, but I plan to change that one," Zant responded as the magically drew the shard of darkness out of Link's pocket and lodged it into his chest.

The resulting transformation process took it's course and Link found himself on all fours as a wolf again. Were he able to speak, he would have cursed a blue streak at Zant, but in this form, all he could do was bark and growl. "Sit, doggie," was what Zant said as a large, disembodied hand made of shadow slammed down hard on Link's backside, forcing him to sit.

"What just happened was the first technique I'm going to teach you: the Dark Hand," he explained as two disembodied hands that had chased Link through the Palace of Twilight appeared on either side of him, though they were now much smaller. "With this technique, you can deftly manipulate objects as though with an actual hand. Much easier than a clumsy paw, I'd think."

Link had to agree with him there. A paw wasn't much good for holding a sword, or throwing a bomb. Sure his claws and teeth were useful in this form, but he felt much more at home when using his normal equipment in the body he was born with.

"Twili magic is difficult for a being of light to use," Zant began, "To do so will take a considerable amount of time." And the lesson commenced.

For the longest time, that seemed like hour upon hour to Link, he tried and failed over and over to conjure up the shadowy hands. For every failure, Zant 'showed him how it was done,' by smacking Link around with his own Dark Hands. Link knew that Zant was enjoying this, so he kept trying to double his efforts every time to master the technique.

Finally, after what seemed like literally the millionth time to Link, he was able to conjure up a pair of deformed hands identical to the ones from the Realm of Twilight that deftly blocked Zant's own and proceeded to slap him silly. If a wolf could laugh, this wolf would be holding it's aching sides. After what seemed an appropriate amount of abuse to Link (say, eight or nine hundred consecutive slaps), he stopped his assault and sat proudly before Zant.

Zant shook the pain from his head as he regained his senses. "It would seem you've mastered the Twili magic, Dark Hands. And what do you know, it only took a week."

Link growled his exclamation, and realized that in this form he had no voice. He extracted the Shard of Darkness from his body and returned to his hylian form. "A week," he yelled in surprise, elucidating Zant to what he had just growled. "How long have I been asleep!? What the hell were you planning doing this!? Do you have me under a spell already!? Is someone going to have to kiss me to wake me up!? The only other people around are you and that old geezer!" Zant shut Link up with another Dark Hand to his face.

"You've only slept the night through, 'Hero of Twilight,'" Zant said, using his name sardonically. "Keep in mind that this world is only one of your dreams, and that is where I'll be to continue our training."

"Oh great, there's more," Link thought to himself. If the training was anything like this one, he'd just be in for more abuse. Oh well. At least once the technique was mastered, he'd torment Zant all he wanted with it.

"I'll be taking my leave of you now. But don't forget to practice this technique on your own time," Zant said as he disappeared into a mass of black squares. The world around Link blinked out, and he awoke back in the room with the bed just as the sun was coming up.


	3. A Familiar Face

Chapter 2: A Familiar Face

The following morning, the old man was gone, but he had left a note for Link:

'Went into town to get some supplies to fill an order. Feel free to come into town as well, just follow the signs on the road. If you're not back by the time I am, then I guess you've gone on to wherever. Be on the lookout for any deluded zealots while you're out there.'

-Ronno

Link decided that it would be a good idea to get a handle of the place he was in now, and that the best way to do that was to go out into this strange, new world. He left his room, made his way out the front door, and was on his way to the nearby town.

Getting there was easy enough. The signs pointed him in the right directions, and it was only a mile and a half or so until he reached the city limits. The town itself reminded Link of his own hometown of Ordon. The small huts with thatched roofs lined either side of the streets. Link guessed that this may be the business district, the way people were bustling about between the buildings with bags and baskets full of sundry items.

The happy chatter of the various citizens reached his ears, filling him with a sense familiarity for his home. Though it was definitely much larger than Ordon, it certainly felt like a close substitute. The only major differences here were the increased size, population, and the smell of the nearby ocean.

Link decided that his first order of business should be what he did every time he entered a new town: look around and see what people were selling. And in the meantime, see if he could find any trace of the old man.

The shops he visited seemed to be a standard fare of a tailor, hardware, sundries, musical instruments, medical services and the like. But there were also things that Link was entirely unfamiliar with. Most of all was the shop that sold magical items. That place had things like keys, medallions, cards, and various other mundane objects that the shopkeeper said had magical powers.

Link's eye was caught by a gold medallion with a lightning bolt on it. "Ah, I see you've been drawn to the ether medallion, young man," the shopkeeper said, suddenly appearing behind Link, and giving him a jump. "It's something quite special, that one. It's one of a trio of medallions that have powerful control over the elements of nature."

This information was interesting to Link. He looked back down at the medallion as he turned it in his hand, thinking that he could have used something powerful like that on his last quest. "What do the medallions do actually," he said as he looked back up at the shopkeeper, only to see that he was not there anymore.

"Well, that one in your hand utilizes the power of ice, and controls the upper atmosphere and polar winds," came the sudden exclamation from behind him, giving Link another jolt. "The quake medallion utilizes earth, and causes the ground to shake," came an explanation from a different direction, "And the bombos medallion utilizes fire magic, and explodes with power, making everything in a certain radius spontaneously combust," came the final explanation as the man finally stopped moving.

"Could you put a bell on if you're gonna keep doing that," Link asked, his nerves shot from being surrounded by only one person. It was almost as bad as what Zant did to him. "But, uh, how does it work," he asked once he got over the shock of assault by information.

"It's easy," the shopkeeper said delightfully, "You just hold it in your hand like this," he said as he curled Link's fingers around the medallion so that he gripped it tightly, "And then you hold a conduit high over your head," he said as he placed a broom in Link's other hand and grabbed his arm to raise it over his head.

What happened next stopped Link's heart. He saw blue lightning strike the top of the broom, and an icy wind blew around him, covering everything in ice and frost. Everything, that is, except for himself. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper was frozen solid. "Anything at all can be a conduit. Even something as mundane as a broom, or a breadstick," he finished up.

"People sell handheld blizzards around here," Link wondered aloud, "How come they don't do that back home?" He then realized that the entire shop was frozen, "Oh, hey, sorry about the mess. But maybe you can turn this place into a walk in freezer to cover the repair costs."

"Don't worry, it's all part of the job," the shopkeeper assured, barely able to move even his lips, "If I don't show off the merchandise, how will anyone know it works? You just go about your business."

Link felt a bit awkward, leaving the man like that, but he seemed alright with letting him go. Link simply put the medallion in the shopkeeper's hand and slowly made for the door. "Alright. See you later, snowflake," he said as he left.

Once he left, he started looking around at the others shops. One in particular caught his eye that sold travelling supplies, according to its' sign. Link was an experienced traveller, and decided to see if this shop met the standards of properly equipping those who are just passing through.

He stepped inside the building, and saw it to be fairly acceptable for supplying travellers. It had the basic things: water, food, horse feed, ropes, satchels, coats, the whole shebang. Except there were a few glaring omissions to the store's contents. "Where are the arrows, potions or bombs," Link thought. His life had been saved countless times by small things like that, but none of them were in sight. Not even a single, worthless slingshot. He decided to ask the cashier about it, after the customer in front of him was done.

"What do you mean 'fifty jewels for ten pounds of feed?' I can get thirty five pounds for the same price back home," the young customer said. She was a red-haired girl, about Link's own age, dressed in a white shirt, brown skirt and brown boots.

"If you can find a better deal in town, tell me where you do. Oh, I'm sorry: we're the only place that sells animal feed here," the disgustingly overweight cashier said, not once looking away from the magazine he was reading. "Now, if you have any more complaints about the pricing or whatever: you may direct them to that stuffed walrus," he continued as he indicated to a taxidermied animal that was decorating the shop.

Link now had two objectives: ask about the selective merchandise, and teach this jerk some manners. He started by loudly ringing the bell on the counter, which made the cashier jump. "Hey, walrus! I have a question: how come you don't stock arrows or potions? That's basic traveller equipment!"

"We don't sell arrows here. This isn't a weapons shop. But if you must shoot something: here," he then reached behind the counter and placed a slingshot on top. So, they did sell worthless slingshots there after all. "Maybe you can glue some sharp rocks to sticks and call them arrows."

"Ooh, a fat, sarcastic cashier. You must be a hit with the ladies," Link shot back to the obnoxious clerk. The girl who was waiting in line began to giggle when she heard Link's snark. The cashier on the other hand only grew more flustered at the barb that hit him, letting Link know that he had struck the right nerve.

"And what would you know about women? You probably only see them from the view on your high chair," the cashier retorted.

"You're one to talk about physical builds. Last time I saw something as big as you, a harpoon was stuck in it." After hearing Link's retort, the red-haired girl started laughing louder. The cashier was at a loss for words, and responded with an indistinct grumble. "Jeez, you don't have looks, but could you try to make up for it with a personality? Women love a poet, you know." He took his bravado even further by involving the girl.

"Gentle thing: truly are you the envy of the seasons. With hair of autumn leaves, eyes of the summer rain, flesh as the winter snow and a presence of the coming of flowers at the cusp of spring," Link said, rolling his 'r's in the manner of a minstrel. The young girl with him covered her face to hide her blush as she giggled uncontrollably. "See what I mean," he said to the cashier. He and the girl both left the store, leaving the cashier seething with rage at the knowledge that when this kid got older, he was going to get laid more than he ever would in his entire life.

"I'm really sorry for putting you on the spot like that," Link apologized to the girl as soon as they left the shop, "But thanks for going along with it. I mean, come on, 'women love a poet?' What a load. How obnoxious is that?"

"I actually thought it was nice of you to say that," the girl said to him. After a few more moments of silence, the girl decided that she had better introduce herself, "My name's Marley."

"Really," was all Link answered. He didn't understand what was so funny, but Marley began giggling again.

"So, what about your name?"

Link suddenly felt incredibly stupid when he realized what she was laughing about, "Oh! Uh, my name's Link." Marley stopped giggling, much to Link's relief. His quick thinking had paid off once again by saving the situation from becoming very awkward.

"You're not from around here, are you," Marley asked after she looked Link over.

"What gave me away," Link asked aloud, missing the fact that she was staring at his clothes.

"Well, you are dressed like a grasshopper."

"Again with the clothes," Link thought to himself as awkwardness punched him in the gut once more, "I just hate to think what she'd say about the hat." He needed a quick out from the situation, and decided to play off of what he had been given. "Where I'm from, all the kids dress like this. I grew up in some fairy woods, with a magic talking tree. It was nice, but the fairies got a bit annoying." His anxiety quickly subsided after his ridiculous joke.

"FAIRIES," She yelled loudly in surprise. Link thought he might have hit the right button with that one. Apparently, what was common back home was a big deal wherever 'here' was.

"It's not as nice as you'd think. Imagine trying to fall asleep with a glowing little bug in your ear trying it's hardest to make you listen to it. They're a bunch of zippy attention hogs is all," Link said, doing his best to act natural. He didn't want to get her hopes up too much, and decided to tell her the truth before he left to find the old man, but he wasn't about to be let go so easily.

"Where? Did you bring one? Do they glow? Are they smart?"

"Uhhhh...It was nice meeting you, but I didn't' get breakfast today," Link said, grasping for a way out, but Marley was more persistent than he would have liked.

"Me neither. We can talk about it over food," she said excitedly as she led Link away by his wrist through town.

Their trip stopped at a vendor, who Marley ordered chicken ramen from. Link asked if he had any pumpkin soup, and when all he got in return was a blank stare, Marley ordered potstickers for him. The children took their meal to the patio area by the stand, and continued their discussion about Link's upbringing.

He told her about life in Ordon, which confused Marley, who remembered him saying he lived in fairy woods. It wasn't actually a lie, since the forest the village was located in had a fairy spring only a few hundred feet from Link's house. The details about his life there with his friends kept the girl's attention while he described Malo, Talo, Beth, and at length, his oldest friend, Ilia. Of course, he decided not to tell her about the invasion of bulblins that sent him on a quest to bring light back to a world bathed in twilight after he turned into a wolf and killed two evil overlords before he got sent into a different land by one of them. He didn't want to scare her, after all. He began telling her about his work as a goatherd when Marley unexpectedly had another outburst.

"GOATS," she exclaimed loudly, knocking Link out of his seat. He guessed maybe that goats were a big deal too. "I've wanted dad to raise goats for a long time, but he says that we only board horses."

"You board horses? I thought that's what boats were for," Link said as he dusted himself off and sat back down.

"No, we take care of other people's horses for them," she giggled at the idea. "But I would like to have more animals around the house. I think it would be fun taking care of all different kinds of animals. But, dad makes the rules, and he says that I can do it when I own the ranch after he retires." She said the last part with another giggle, letting Link know how excited, and how serious she was about the future prospect. "That, or if business goes under, and it's not like that'll happen anytime soon. Dad always has clients who need their horses taken care of. Or it's like today when we find some stray foal. That's why we're here in town today: we're trying to find who she belongs to."

In all his years, Link only had one horse that he raised since she was a foal, and it broke his heart to think that someone would abandon one for any reason. "Does that happen often?"

"No, only once in a long while. But this one's different from the others we find. You can tell if a horse is domesticated, because they act so nice around people. But I think this one's been wild since birth," she explained the situation she and her dad had earlier, where it took them almost twenty minutes to calm down a filly they found curled up all alone in the grass outside their home.

That small description definitely reminded Link of his own beloved horse. When they were young, Epona would have nothing to do with him, and went into a wild, bucking frenzy whenever he, or anyone else got close.

That all changed one day when he had a particularly hard day at work and played a song he knew on a piece of horseshoe grass.

He had no memories of his parents. His mom died giving birth to him, and his dad was a knight who died in battle before he was a year old, but he had only one thing of theirs after their passing: a song they wrote for him before he was born, to lull him to sleep. He didn't know the words, but he would often play that melody when he was feeling down.

It was when he played that tune for the first time since that filly was born that she approached him calmly and he shared the apple he was eating with her. He didn't know what it was about the song that she liked so much, but from that point on, the two were inseparable companions.

Those memories made Link feel hollow, now that he was so far away from his precious companion. He tried to put them behind him by talking to Marley some more. "What kind of foal did you find?" Damn...his mind was stuck on horses it seemed.

"I'm not sure of the breed. But it's a filly with some odd coloring," she began, "She has a sorrel coat with a white mane. Does that sound like any breed you know?"

It did indeed. Link suddenly became ecstatic by the description and stood up suddenly to leave. Now it was his turn to take Marley's wrist and guide her to his destination. "Where are we going," she asked, slightly alarmed by the spur of action.

"There's something I have to check," Link answered. He led her all the way to the music shop that he found earlier and browsed their contents. He stopped when he found one instrument that looked like a blue potato with a mouthpiece that jutted from the main body, and six holes in it. "What the hell is this thing," he wondered aloud, before he quickly got back on track to finding what he wanted.

He went through countless instruments: a harp, a flute, a set of drums, an organ, a cello, a guitar, a triangle, and even a conductor's baton. But he couldn't find anything that he could play. He was about to give up, but then he found it. Hidden behind the other merchandise, he saw a small, simple whistle on the shelf. "It's perfect," he thought to himself before he ran back out to the front of the shop.

He put the whistle to his lips and played the song for his beloved horse on it in a few short notes. Hopefully, he waited. He listened in the distance for anything. A hoofbeat. A whinny. Nothing. It really was too much to get his hopes up like that. With a sigh, he turned to put the whistle back in the shop when suddenly in the distance, he heard a high pitched whinny, coupled by rapidly approaching hoofbeats.

In the crowd before him, he could see people being pushed aside by something smaller than them. Link's heart grew all aflutter when he saw the familiar muzzle of a white maned horse break through the crowd and rush toward him. Sure, she was now a filly, much like he was now a boy, but that didn't matter. He was now reunited with his precious Epona.

"Epona! My baby! My sweetheart! My precious horsey," Link gushed to his pet as he tightly hugged her. "How did you get here? How did my baby find me so far from home?"

Marley smiled at the sight before her. Seeing the boy she had just met reunite with a lost filly she had found brought a tear to her eye, and a smile to her face.

"Hey! You blew it, you bought it," the store clerk said, pointing at the whistle in Link's hand, and effectively ruining the happy moment for all three involved.

"You blew it when you decided to wear socks with sandals," Link retorted, revenge for ending the reunion between boy and horse.

"My feet get cold if I don't cover them."

"You want to talk about cold: check out that magic shop down the road. It looks like an iceberg fell on it."

Marley giggled again, until she noticed Link looking down the road in the direction of five hooded men.

 **A/N: And that's that for this chapter. If you look closely, you may have seen a few not-so-subtle references to other Zelda games. Some of you may not like the way Link is portrayed in this story, but the beauty of the character is that we get to make up a personality for him, since none is provided in the games. In this case, I went for a kind of Robin Williams/ Groucho Marx/ Yakko Warner-type joker. Also thrown into the mix is a bit of socially awkward weirdo, along with the usual expected heroism. Sorry for taking so long to update, but I'm helping a friend write his stories too. Feel free to check out the Naruto x DC Universe crossover, Graveslide, if you have a minute to spare. Also, I'm thinking of doing a side project of my own that crosses over Legend of Zelda with Calvin and Hobbes. That's all from me, people. Leave your comments and questions, favorite this story if you like it enough, and rock on \m/**


	4. Ravenscroft? Who's That?

**Chapter 3: Ravenscroft? Who'sThat?**

"Watch my horse for me," Link requested of Marley. The girl was reluctant to at first, but when Link passed his filly off to her, the horse was suddenly much more docile than when she was found on the side of the road. "You'll be good for the nice lady, won't you," he said to his horse, who answered with a snort and a shake of her head, "That's my girl."

"What!? Where are you going? You just found your horse," Marley protested as Link walked away. She tried to follow him, only for Link to stop her.

"Don't worry, I'm not going far. I won't even leave your line of sight," Link assured her.

"Then where are you going," Marley asked again.

Link couldn't easily lie his way out of easing her worry, so he decided to answer honestly. "Just down the street to that group of scary-looking armed men," he muttered just loud enough for Marley to hear as he averted his gaze.

"What!?"

Without another word, Link started walking down the road. It would have been easier, if Marley and Epona both hadn't been trying to pull him to safety.

"Where is he," one of the men demanded to know, "We know he's here! So, which one of you is hiding him?"

Currently, the men were on a warpath, overturning carts, bursting into buildings and brandishing their weapons to innocent bystanders. At the moment, one of the men brandished his sword at a man whose son was hiding behind him. "You: start talking! Where is he?"

"Yeah, let's get him! That guy's a real jerk!"

The five hooded men all turned to see the boy they were chasing from before with a girl and a foal pulling on either one of his sleeves. "Hey, who are we looking for anyway," Link said, now that he had their attention, as if he didn't know already.

"Well, well. Look who it is," said one of the men as he patted his many pronged whip in his hand.

"Link. We should go now," Marley said tersely as she pulled harder on his arm, only to find that he was surprisingly steadfast in his position.

"Yes, that would be wise," the man said as he stepped closer, "At the moment we have no interest in you. But if you stay here, I'm going to repay you for the trouble you've caused me."

"That's funny. The way I remember it, _you_ chased _me_ through the woods, then tried to whip me silly," Link said. "But since we're on the subject, what's more important than me right now?"

"Leaving comes to mind," Marley said as she pulled harder. Epona snorted in agreement, and also increased her effort. Unfortunately, the filly wasn't as strong as when she was a grown mare.

"As powerful as your magic is, we only seek out the strongest for our cause. And you, boy, are nothing compared to the power of Ravenscroft," the hooded man answered.

Once the name was spoken, the entire market square went silent. Even Marley stopped yanking on Link's arm when she heard it.

"What? I'm being upstaged by a bird and his farm," Link asked, completely confused by the statement.

"Surely, you know of Ravenscroft, the fire god?"

"No, but I ate a pepper called 'Din's Fire' once. And if there's any pepper named after this guy, please, give it to my horse first."

Epona shook her head and nickered.

"Sorry, sweetie, but I'm not taking any chances after that first time."

Link would have kept talking, if not for the sudden snap of the man's whip.

"It's perfectly plain that you know nothing. And I mean that in general. And it's only because I'm sick of listening to you that I'm going to let you walk free. For now, at least," the man said.

"As generous as it is that you're letting me go, I don't think I can stand by and let you terrorize the populace," Link answered, even though in the back of his head, he was cursing himself for confronting five armed men when he was without any means to defend himself.

"Link, as much as I admire your courage, we should take their offer and go," Marley said. Much to her relief, she felt Link stop resisting and take a small step backwards. Another gentle pull on his arm, and he started walking away with her and Epona.

"You're very lucky to have such a smart friend," the man said. He could have resumed looking for this mysterious Ravenscroft, but he decided to offer one final jab, "Not so lucky in the department of fashion, though."

Oh, that was the last straw! Link could handle a lot of pressure, but for the third time in twenty-four hours, someone made fun of his clothes. That on top of mysteriously ending up in a new land, getting chased through the woods, and Zant's magic lesson, he was about to burst! He knew what he was about to do would send the town into a panicked frenzy, but he wasn't about to let them get away from him.

"Marley, do you read any horror books," he asked.

"No," she concisely answered. She never did too good with scary stories, but why was he asking such a stupid question?

"Then this is all gonna be new to you," Link said as he touched the shard of darkness in his pocket.

Marley gasped as she and Epona quickly backpedalled when Link suddenly turned pitch black and dropped to all fours. Her gut wrenched when she watched him convulse, and start to change shape. What was happening to his face? Why was it getting longer? And why was he growing claws?

In a burst of darkness, the boy she met earlier was gone, and in his place, a black and gray wolf with white markings on it's head.

Epona snorted, and backed away from him when she saw his transformation. She loved Link so much, but not when he looked like that. In that form, all the light and warmth from his presence went away, replaced by something dark and sinister that made her feel uneasy, and sometimes scared of him. But this time, not so much as before.

Link barked and snarled at the men, letting them know that he meant business. In this form, he had seen the bravest warriors cower before him, but instead, Link swore he could see the men smiling under their hoods.

"And what exactly do you plan to do to us? Nibble our shoes," one of the men said, amusement clear in his voice.

Once again, Link realized how much bigger everything around him was than it should have been. Even as a wolf, nothing looked this big before. In a sudden whoosh, his confusion washed away, and clarity struck like a needle in his brain when he realized that he was now a wolf pup, complete with downy fluff. Sure, he had seen Zant while he was in this form, but he figured that it was something to do with his magic. Like when the Usurper King grew to fifty feet tall when he fought him in the yeti's mansion.

But size be damned, he would not back down from these men. He growled as viciously as he could, only to realize how he must have sounded, having heard puppies growl himself.

The five men drew their swords, expecting an easy victory over a helpless wolf pup. Unknown to them, this tiny canine was anything but helpless.

Now, it was time to put Zant's magic lesson to use. After a week of constant practice, he had it practically down to a science. Once the men were upon him, they were all viciously assaulted by a volley of unseen blows. One by one, they were knocked backwards, both irritated and astounded by what just happened.

When the men stood, they saw the wolf surrounded by shadows, which morphed into a pair of large, deformed hands. Another high pitched snarl from the pup, and the men decided that they could put off their search for now. This wolf pup would surely suffice for their needs.

One of them stepped forward, and his sword began to darken, and it's blade began to take a more amorphous shape, like a shadow of a waving flag.

Link couldn't be too sure what was going on. It looked like Twili magic, but at the same time, it was very different. But, he couldn't ponder it too much. Not when the sword was coming down on him.

With a jump to the side, the sword slammed the ground, extending far longer than it was before. The man with the shadowy sword swung again, his sword snaking around obstacles as if it had a mind of it's own toward Link.

The wolf pup quickly jumped over it, and landed on the flat of the blade, which took him rocketing down the market square toward another assailant.

This man had what looked like a wheel of swords spinning behind him, each one different from the last. And one after the other, he swung them at Link, who jumped, ducked and weaved around each one once the shadowy blade stopped extending.

Between the swings, Link was able to sneak in a punch or two from the dark hands. He would have loved to slap his head inside out like he did Zant, but the man's concentration was not easily broken, the way his swords kept magically swinging.

The shadow blade retracted back to it's wielder, leaving behind his opponent, "Work on that swing while I'm gone," and taking him toward a new one. "Oh crap!"

The third member of the group actually changed before Link's eyes. Though he couldn't see his face, he saw a pair of horns sprout from under his hood, and saw him grow larger.

Once Link was close enough, the man grabbed him off the blade, and held him tightly in his grasp. Under his hood, Link could see that his face changed to something more monstrous.

With a snap of his head, Link sank his canine teeth into the monster man's hand, only to find his puppy teeth worthless against his opponent's thick, red hide.

Feeling his opponent's grip tightening, Link summoned his shadowy hands to pry himself loose from the monster man's grip, but only managed to slightly open his fingers before he started using two hands.

It was like being caught in the grip of the Stallord for him. Only this time, Midna wasn't around to help pull him free. He would have to figure out a new way. But then, all of a sudden, the monster man's eyes bulged, and he let go of Link.

Link fell through the air, and landed quite softly on something that definitely wasn't the ground. Looking up, he saw nothing but fluffy white hair. Things started making more sense when he saw the profile of a horse's head turn and look at him. "Did he hurt you," she asked him.

He had completely forgotten that he could talk to Epona as a wolf. Then again, he barely did so anyway when he started relying on Midna for transportation as opposed to his own beloved horse. He almost felt bad for how that happened, but at the same time he was glad that there was someone familiar who he could talk to. With a happy thump of his tail, he answered, "Who? The beefcake? I've eaten pumpkins more dangerous than him."

The monster man was finished agonizing over his injury. Not that he was planning to have children anytime soon, but a buck from a horse was incredibly painful, even if it was just a foal. With an angry shout, he swung his fists again, cracking the ground when the foal dodged.

"Pumpkins don't punch," Epona said to the wolf on her back.

"Mix it with a little rum and it all goes down fighting," Link said as he clung to Epona's back while she weaved around the following blows.

Before they could dodge another attack, lightning struck the ground in front of them. Since they were forced to stop, they had no way of dodging the next blow from the monster man, which sent them both sprawling down the road. Before they even stopped rolling, Link saw a flash of yellow, and felt a stinging, burning pain like none he ever felt before. He heard a loud whinny, and knew that Epona had been hit as well.

They were going to pay for hurting his horse. He nearly got up again, only to once again be struck by lightning, and brought to the ground.

Marley looked on in horror, wanting help, but not knowing if she would do any good. She knew that she _could_ help, but the only way to do so was forbidden by her dad.

Link tried to block another bolt of lightning with his shadowy hands, only to be hit by another. After that, the five men all began closing in on him.

It had to be done. There was no other way that Link might possibly survive. Marley focused her will, and hoped it would be enough to save him.

Looking up, Link found himself once again surrounded by the hooded men. Four of them already had their fiendish magic brandished to annihilate the wolf, but the leader with the whip hadn't yet used his. Only now did he choose to demonstrate what horrors awaited Link.

The leader took a kind of talisman from his robes, and draped it around the hand in which he held his many-pronged weapon. Once he had, the trinket began to glow with a malevolent red light which spread to his weapon. The prongs of the whip began to sway about as if each had a life of their own

In the center, at the base where the prongs joined the handle, a fanged mouth opened up and hissed loudly. One of the whip prongs reached out and grabbed a piece of produce that had been toppled by the men earlier, and was consumed by the monstrous mouth. One by one, other prongs reached out, and consumed more fallen items. It was as if some kind of gluttonous demon had taken residence in the man's weapon.

"A lot of spirit," the man mused as he raised his weapon, and its fanged mouth opened, "Normally, I would enjoy the long, arduous process of breaking down one like you. But, this time, I'll have to settle for quick and painful."

There was no way Link was going to be fed to this mini-Morpheel. He tried to fight back with his dark hands, only to have them eaten by the leader's weapon. All he could do now was frantically plan what he would do next once he was in whatever passed as that thing's stomach.

Suddenly, the leader was hit in the face with what looked like a burst of light. "Light arrows," Link thought. Each one of the men was hit in succession, and Link looked to the direction they were coming from.

What he saw was Marley, standing there with what looked like a much, much smaller version of the cannon that shot him to the city in the sky. She kept pulling a trigger underneath the main barrel of the contraption, which kept shooting concentrated light at each opponent.

Even though they looked slightly similar, Marley's projectiles weren't nearly as effective as Zelda's light arrows, as the men only flinched at each hit. Until they were all hit with a singular powerful blast that took them all off their feet.

Marley looked at her weapon, marvelling that she had such a power within her. Her dad only taught her a little bit of magic, but that was something else!

Two more much smaller shots came flying past her, and she, Link and Epona watched as an older, red-haired man with with gray stubble stepped in next to her and began firing his rifle at the men, cocking a lever beneath the stock between each shot before he drank heavily from a silver flask.

"Dad," Marley yelled, glad that he came, but at the same time, afraid of what he'd say since she was using magic unsupervised.

"Quit talkin' and fan that hammer, girl," he said as he put his flask back on his belt. Without another word, he charged into the fray.

Taking his example, Link and Epona rushed into battle as well, paws and hooves flying furiously.

Each fighter took an opponent of their own. Epona took out her anger on the monster man who tried to hurt Link earlier. She dodged his wild swings, and countered with every stomp and buck she used to keep bokoblins at bay back in Hyrule.

Were she bigger, she would have taken him down without a problem. But now, with her stupid filly body, her usual techniques weren't as effective.

When she swung her head, it only impacted lightly. When she charged, it was met with a dull thud. And she was met with a powerful swing of a fist that sent her rolling.

This was getting her nowhere. Whenever Link came back from one of those dungeons he talked about, he always mentioned some kind of monster at the end of them that was several times his own size. However, he always told her about how each one had some kind of weak point. She had hit one earlier, but chances were that he would protecting his oat bag against further attacks. Something had to be done about that.

Link always told her there was some trick to make each monster reveal their weak point, and now she had to come up with a strategy to wrangle this nasty red demon cow.

The monster man swung another punch that sent the filly rolling into a cart after cart. She shook her head, and realized that she was now surrounded by the key to her victory.

The monster man charged at Epona, who started bucking cart after cart in her opponent's direction. Some were cast aside, while others hit their mark, but did little damage. But, this was not her intent. With every buck, the monster man stepped closer, and with his hands busy, he was not able to protect his weak point.

Once again, Epona's rear hooves shot out and connected between the monster man's legs, making him bellow in pain. He tried to retaliate with a strong jab, only for his knee to be attacked next. He only ended his opponent's assault by slamming his massive palm down, forcing his equine opponent to jump backwards to safety.

* * *

"Aw, cripes, I need a drink," Marley's dad said after he clubbed the shadow-swordsman with the butt of his rifle.

Once the other man was down, he quickly unscrewed his flask and took a heavy sip, just as he dodged a bolt of lightning from another opponent.

The lightning wielder rushed in with his electric-imbued sword to take the drunk's head off, only for his opponent to finish his drink and slam the flask into his face as he fastened it back onto his belt.

This was followed up by the drunk bashing his face with the barrel of his gun, followed by shooting the shadow-swordsman over his shoulder, more on accident than skillful shooting.

Nearby, he saw his daughter being attacked by the other swordsman with the wheel of blades on his back. Though she held her own well enough, he knew an inexperienced mage like her was no match for someone like that guy.

"Hands off the kid, psycho," he said as he shot a funnel of wind that took the wheel-swordsman off his feet. "Remember what I told you, Marley: eye on the target, and your heart in the trigger!"

When she was learning magic, Marley was taught that she must place her full concentration into ever spell. The more she put herself into it, the more powerful it would become. But, that was so hard to do when she was in an actual combat situation, and against such an advanced opponent.

She saw the shadow-swordsman and the lightning-wielder both raising their weapons to her dad while his back was turned.

Taking her dad's words to heart, she aimed her weapon, emphasizing the intent to protect her dad as she cast her spell.

A large ball of light shot out from her six-shooter, and rocketed toward her dad. The drunk held up his arms to block the magic, only for the shot to divide in two, swerve around him and hit both his attackers in the face.

"Nice shootin', girl," he said as he reached once more for his flask. His drink would have to be delayed though, as he saw the wheel-swordsman readying all of his blades for attack. "Duck," the drunk shouted.

Not wasting a second, the farm girl crouched low, as she felt the wind of the lowest blade fly over her head.

Before the swordsman could bring his weapons down on the girl's head, he was hit in the face by a half-full silver flask that bounced off his head, and into the drunk's hand before he shot a concussive blast directly into his stomach.

Once he was down, Marley ran to her dad's side, who, by the time she got there, was drinking from his flask.

The shadow-swordsman's weapon came swinging in, forcing Marley to duck, while her dad bent far over backwards, taking a heavier drink.

The very second they both dodged, they fired their weapons at their opponents, quickly snapping between targets to keep the three of them at bay.

"They just don't wanna quit, do they," Marley's dad said as he pulled her out of the way of a bolt of lightning, while his daughter retaliated with another shot.

Marley didn't answer. She was too busy concentrating on fending off her opponents. The lightning-wielder shot several sparks in her direction, each of which were shot out of the air.

She continued to fire her opponent's projectiles out of the air, while her dad fought off two enemies at once. Her dad used his magic once more, firing a blast that knocked the wheel-swordsman backwards.

Though Marley desperately wanted to help her dad, she had to keep her focus on not getting electrocuted. She needed to do something, but she was only a beginner mage. She dreaded her imminent defeat, but more so cursed herself for not being able to help him.

Through nothing more than her will to protect her father, the magical shots came rushing out of her gun, faster than she ever shot before, and only with her finger holding the trigger instead of releasing between shots.

The sparks of electricity were all shot down quicker than the hooded man could throw them. Soon, he was bombarded by several small, yet painful shots that brought him to his knees.

Once he was down, Marley quickly turned and shot both of the men her dad was fighting. The two of them both skillfully blocked her shots, until they were hit by another whirlwind from her dad.

"I don't remember teachin' you that," the drunk said, his voice perfectly steady, though brimming with pride for his daughter. His attention was caught by the sight of Epona and Link fighting their respective opponents.

Epona had just destroyed a shop's awning to blind her opponent, before bucking his weak point again.

"So, that's where that stinkin' filly ran off to," he said to himself. "Glad I didn't piss it off that bad."

Link shot backwards, away from the snaring tendrils of the leader's weapon. When he was at an appropriate distance, he summoned a magical pair of hands that grabbed anything around it as a makeshift weapon.

"A literal dog and pony show? Now I've seen everything," he said, wondering how in the world that animal was using such a magic, or even what magic it was using. He couldn't keep thinking though, as Marley shot one of the men they were fighting, prompting him to resume fighting.

* * *

No matter what Link did. No matter what he used to attack, it was eaten by the monster his opponent wielded. He couldn't even land a punch the way the tendrils kept swatting away, or diffusing his dark magic.

He recalled that bloated Daibaba doing something similar, until he fed it explosives. Unfortunately, there was no such thing at his disposal at the moment. He tried to feed it his own Dark Hands, only for them to burst into a mass of black tiles that dissipated into nothing.

A mass of tendrils lashed out to get him, forcing him to jump back. Link kept backpedalling until he entered one of the shops. With none of his usual items at his disposal, he was forced to use what was around him to aid him in battle.

One of his dark hands shot out and grabbed the first thing he could reach, only to find it to be a spool of thread. "Eh!? Goddess damned tailor shop!"

Link threw away the useless tool, in favor of swinging mirrors, stools, scissors and boxes of fabric at his opponent. Each one was eaten, while the larger items were broken apart first, then consumed. Once again, he found himself with a spool of thread in his possession. He was about to discard it in favor of something else, until one of the monster's tendrils lashed out to get him.

With nothing else at his disposal, he threw the spool of thread, which was caught by the tendril, and subsequently unwound. The other tendrils all worked to gather the threads into the mouth, only to tangle themselves momentarily.

That was the window he needed. He could already see there was no way he would ever defeat the bottomless stomach with a handle. Instead, he would have to incapacitate it while he took on the leader.

Wasting no time to think anymore on it, he let loose a volley of punches on the monster's master, pummeling him back out the door of the shop. This was stopped when he was kicked out the window on the opposite end of the shop.

Stars cleared from Link's vision as he lamented that this guy turned out to be an evil psycho, instead of an athlete with a kick like that. The leader of the men came jumping out the window after Link, his weapon having pulled loose a few of it's tendrils.

The man swung his weapon, sending it's deadly prongs to Link, who was taken off the ground by one of them.

Suspended in the air over the gaping maw, Link's mind raced for a way to escape. Attacking the weapon would do no good, he already knew. So, once more, he attacked the wielder.

He began by swinging a grocery cart at the man, taking his legs out from under him. He then used his dark hands to grab a fistful of peppers and jam them into his face.

His face burning from the peppers, Link's opponent covered his face and tried to wipe his eyes clean, swinging Link around in the process.

Without even thinking about it, the man had been ensnared by the tendrils of his own weapon, which were slowly creeping up his arm. "No! I am your master! You will do as I order," the man yelled as he forcefully pulled off the devilish appendages.

Some of the tendrils that held Link had loosened as they crept to their new target, allowing him to shake himself loose.

Once he was on the ground, he watched as the leader pulled off the last tendril that had grabbed him, and glared murderously at Link. This experience had shown Link that the monster his opponent held was not a docile servant. Though controllable, it was still a mindless eating machine, which Link knew would bode well in his favor. Until he figured out how, he would have to keep those things busy while he tried to subdue it's wielder.

Link picked up a watermelon and heaved it at the leader, who cut it cleanly in half with a newly drawn sword.

Now, Link was dodging sword strikes in addition to the wild swings of the demonic weapon. He picked up a broken piece of wood as a makeshift sword, and returned the attacks, only for his new weapon to be cut down to size with each successful block.

Soon, Link was left with only a stub of wood, which he used to simply flick at his opponent's forehead.

Only a light offense on Link's part, but it was not to be taken lightly to his opponent. The man retaliated with a swing of both weapons, snaring Link with one and cutting him with the other.

Try as Link did to dodge the weapon, he found himself getting cut as he was once more drawn to the gaping mouth in the hilt.

There would be no surprise punches that would save him this time. The constant attack of the blades kept him from focusing properly, and summoning his Dark Hands, leaving him to the mercy of the monster.

If he was ever going to die in battle, Link knew he would not be an entree to some travel-sized glutton. He recalled his week-long session with Zant, how the Usurper King would relentlessly attack him, and how Link could never so much as conjure a single square of Twili magic when he did that.

Every ounce of his pent up frustration channeled into what he did next. He jerked out of the way of every swing of the sword, while above his opponent's head, a dark shape formed. As Link was inched closer to the monster, the shape took the form of a massive Dark Hand that slammed down hard on his opponent's head.

The force of the blow made the leader let go of his weapon, which started reaching out and eating whatever it could reach.

Summoning another Dark Hand, Link picked up the demonic weapon and started driving it into the ground, making the tiny demon screech loudly.

The leader tried to retrieve the weapon, only to be punched by another dark hand, which was quickly slashed into oblivion.

He marched toward his weapon, cutting away any attack hands. Once he was close, Link lunged forward, fangs bared.

The wolf's teeth sank into the man's arm, and was subsequently shaken and slammed against everything around him.

Link's ears began to ring as he took more and more punishment from the larger opponent. He tried to attack with another Dark Hand, but those were all cut down by the leader's sword.

Link was running out of options, and he knew he wouldn't be able to battle much longer if this kept up. He needed a new tactic, and he had one readily in mind.

The leader's whip lay wriggling on the ground, and was picked up by one of Link's summoned hands. With a mighty swing, it struck the leader on the back as Link let go of his arm. Soon, the tendrils of the weapon began lashing onto the man, who started slashing them off his body.

This was what Link was waiting for. This would be where he would put the monster's gluttonous appetite to good use. As the leader tried to pull off and cut away the tendrils that attacked him, Link sent one of his Dark Hands to grab the tendrils and attach it to his opponent's leg.

When the leader tried to free himself with twice the effort, until Link kept attaching more of the monster's tendril's to its master's body.

Once or twice, it tried to eat the hands that held it, but this was corrected by Link simply making the ones it grabbed disappear.

Soon, the leader was draped from head to toe in his weapon's tendrils, all of them pulling him slowly toward the snapping maw. He tried resisting the pull of the weapon by pushing it to the ground with his foot, only for it to be caught in the monster's mouth.

All around, the hooded men were being overwhelmed. Marley and her dad both unleashed a flurry of shots that pushed their opponents into each other, forcing them to magically retreat in a wisp of shadows.

Epona unleashed one last buck to the monster man's weak point, this time sending him flying on his back.

He agonized on the ground, swearing vengeance against the young equine as he changed back to his normal human form, and disappeared the same as his associates.

The leader knew that he was finished, but he would not go alone. He grabbed his sword and slashed at Link, who backed away from each strike, until both the man's legs were consumed by his monstrous weapon.

Link was well beyond the reach of the sword, but the glare the man shot him struck him harder than any blade as he clawed the ground to give his last words.

"Nothing has changed from this," the leader said as he was consumed, "Because of the magic you possess, we will find you wherever you run. And we will not stop, until Lord Zeref has been resurrected…"

With those final words, the man let go of the ground, and was consumed completely as the hand draped with his medallion disappeared down the monster's throat.

An eerie silence filled the town square, until the weapon on the ground began to shriek and convulse. It flopped across the ground, making Epona take a quick step back when it got too close to her.

Finally, black squares began to drift upward from the monster, until they all merged to create one solid shard that floated in the air for a single second before it disappeared from sight.

Link's eyes popped when he recognized the shard that appeared before him. An all too familiar magic that had somehow found it's way into the wrong hands. This was only on top of his already mounting pile of troubles. But, he wouldn't let that get him down. He changed back to his human form and gave his brief eulogy to his fallen opponent.

"Just be wearing men's clothes when I see you again," Link said, knowing that he had not seen the last of any of them.

"Link!"

Turning to the direction of Marley's voice, Link was suddenly enveloped in the tightest hug he ever felt that lifted him off his feet.

"Did you see what I did? And my dad, and your horse? And you were so amazing," she said, psyched over their victory.

"In amazing need of air," Link choked out.

"Sorry," Marley said quickly, before she dropped him on the ground.

Epona helped Link to his feet, and he dusted himself off. "So much for the gentle hospitality of rancher's daughters," Links said as he cracked his spine back into place.

It was nice to see that even when he was in pain, he had a sense of humor, even if she didn't quite get the joke. But, before she could say anything, her dad came in next to her.

He examined Link from head to toe before he spoke, "First a puppy? Now a kid? How drunk am I?" Slowly, he began to sway, "Oh, wait. I know."

And with that, he passed out in the street.

 **A/N: Sorry for being so late, folks. My partner and I ran into a bit of a snag when we were writing this: we had no idea what the hell direction this story was going to take. So, we put it off for a while, in that time we worked on a few other projects, and we gradually worked out a way this story can go in the future. We're still not too sure about this particular one, so this project may continue to be slow-going, but we do plan to finish it.**

 **Anyway, about that story, I ended up getting my hands on Hyrule Warriors, which gave me the brilliant idea for Epona getting involved in battle. The idea here was that the guys Link and company fight are the boss of the 'dungeon' that Link enters. The 'dungeon' being this strange new town. I personally like the idea of Link fighting opponents his own size, as opposed to a towering monster with a giant eye.**

 **That's about all I can think to say for now. I must once again ask you all to rock on \m/**


	5. So, About that Ravenscroft Guy?

**Chapter 4: So, About that Ravenscroft Guy?**

"Well, well. What have we here," said a white-clad figure from a high window.

In a distant, barren land, where the sun rarely shone, four men had arrived among the laborers and began making their way to higher rooms of the tower. In a swoosh of shadows, they all arrived in hardly any time at all.

"My lord," the shadow-swordsman greeted as he knelt before the pallid, slender figure before him.

"You're back much sooner than I'd anticipated. In which case, I assume there was some calamitous failure," the lord said grimly.

The four men hesitated to convey the news of their defeat and the loss of their leader to the volatile demon.

"Speak to me! I demand to know what happened," the demon said in a low, quiet, yet seething with rage voice.

If they remained silent any longer, the men knew that their lord was liable to kill one of them. "We did find magic that was suitable for our cause," one man explained.

"And? Did you acquire it," the demon asked impatiently as his skin darkened.

"We were...unable to match the power of the boy wielding it."

"Did you say that you were outmatched by a boy!?"

Not a single one of the men wanted to continue with the details of the battle, knowing it would only further infuriate their lord.

"You," the demon stated as he pointed at the man who used a wheel of swords, "Elaborate exactly what happened during your mission. And I expect you to go into details of the incident that led to your defeat."

The man swallowed hard before he explained what had happened. "We had been in the area searching for Ravenscroft as we had intended. When we suddenly sensed another powerful magic nearby."

"The boy, I assume?"

"Yes. He arrived with some unknown form of magic. But, before we could apprehend him, he led us on a chase through the woods."

"And that was where he defeated you?"

"No. We were assaulted by...by Ravenscroft…"

"So, you did find him! And yet you return without him! This...is...so... INFURIATING!" The demon thrust his arm forward, casting a volley of diamond-shaped blades into the man who displeased him, spraying his blood onto his own pale skin. Once he had come down from his fury, he turned to the next man. "Do please continue. And try not to anger me further. Blood is so unhealthy for the complexion," he said as his tongue extended unnaturally to lick the blood off his face.

The next man shivered slightly at the notion that he had to be the one to put his life on the line next

"We searched for the fire god, but to no avail. We went to the nearby town, where we searched for him. But, that was where we met the boy from before. And he wasn't alone this time."

The demon's face changed to a mix of both irritation and intrigue.

"He...was accompanied this time…There were four of them..." the man continued unsurely, now realizing he was going to have to explain who was with the boy. "There was a young girl…"

The demon's face grew more irritated.

"And a...and a foal…"

"Let me see if I understand this," the demon began, "You were defeated not only by a boy, but another child as well? Along with their horse?"

Not a single man answered.

"You said there were four of them. Who was the fourth? A PINK FLOWER!?"

The demon had finally lost it. His pent up rage burst forth, covering the ground with yellow and black geometric shapes, which burst violently, tearing apart the remaining men in a shower of crimson.

Soon after, the demon began teleporting to all different levels of the tower as he vented his fury.

"UNACCEPTABLE!"

He reappeared in another room.

"UNBELIEVABLE!"

He reappeared in another room.

"COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY USELESS PEONS!"

All around the tower, random workers were cut down as diamond shaped blades sliced into their hearts. One of them, a young girl with red hair, managed to dodge one, though she nearly lost her eye in the process.

Back in the tower heights, the demon began to come down from his tirade. Though the wanton murder stopped, he was still seething with rage, and felt liable to do it again.

"Hey, how's it goin' devilock," came a voice that sounded as if it was trying to speak as fast as it could.

When he turned, the demon was displeased to see the red and blue form of his associate. He never liked having to look at the thing. To him, it seemed nothing but a mess of spindly limbs and a bobbing head atop a heart-shaped aberration. Adding to it's grotesque appearance were two oversized yellow eyes in it's torso.

"Whatever happened to fillin' your heart with rainbows? You know, all that anger can't be good for ya. Keep it up, and ya might get a tumor. Matter of fact, I knew a guy once. Burst almost every capillary in his body when the sandwich he ordered came back with no pickles. He looked like a great big strawberry when the medics put him in that body bag. I got me some equipment if ya want me to check that blood pressure," the thing said as it magically conjured a sphygmomanometer and a stethoscope.

"I won't be taking any advice from an oversized ritual item."

"Strong words from a guy what used to be a sword. Maybe if ya started takin' advice from lowly schmoes like me, ya'd be a happier guy. Make more friends. Be more productive. Better serve the cause for our master."

"There is none more dedicated than I. Not you. Not that oaf of a general. Not that so-called shadow sorceress. _Not_ that raving usurper king! And certainly not that blasted sheikah wizard!"

"Ghirahim!"

A nerve snapped in the demon's brain as he turned to face the owner of the gruff voice that addressed him. His stomach churned when he saw the aforementioned sheikah wizard before him, clad in his long, blood-red robes, adorned with the piercing blue eye on the front. To many who met him, he was only a stranger who left terrible things in his wake. To those present, he was Agahnim.

To the wizard's sides, were two of the others Ghirahim had mentioned. On his right, clad in a midriff, cleavage and leg-revealing purple dress, displaying her deep blue skin was the sorceress of shadows, Veran.

On his left, covered from head to toe in gold and black armor that only revealed his mouth, and threateningly holding his ever present weapon. On one end was a fierce axe blade. On the other end of the handle was a long, wickedly spiked chain ending in a spiked iron ball. This intimidating mountain of a man was Onox.

"Are you and Majora bickering again," Agahnim asked in a low, stern voice.

"Ya better believe we are, bossman," Majora answered when he suddenly ran across the room in the blink of an eye, stopping right in front of Agahnim's face. The wizard, however, didn't even budge. "Mr. Broody-Moody here just got his mantle in a twist when he got some bad news. All I did was try to counsel him about that volcanic temper of his. But, 'nuff about me. What's new with you fellas?"

He shot next to Veran.

"Veran, is that a new dress? New hairstyle? I always thought red was your color. I myself could use a bit more red. But that just ain't in the books, is it honey-bunny?"

He shot next to Onox.

"What about you, Knock-'Em-Sock-'Em-Onox? Sharpen that blade? Polish that armor? Or did you finally get a tan somewhere besides your lips?"

The next thing the mask knew, it's neck was grabbed by one of Onox's massive hands.

"Stop talking, you half-wit," Onox growled before he threw Majora across the room, where he cracked a wall on impact.

"Can't you do anything without destroying something," Veran asked her large associate.

"Destruction, dear sorceress, is the only sure way of keeping others under your rule. If one simply gives an order, the other can choose to ignore it. If one gives an order, and demonstrates the terror that can befall the other's life, there will never be dissent, and your will shall become the only right in the world."

"An interesting philosophy, General. But, I've always preferred to dangle what others hold dear on the brink of oblivion, sending them into an obedient sorrow from which there is no return."

"Both are valid methods, but neither explains why Ghirahim has overreacted the way he did," Agahnim said, cutting to the point.

"Ah, yes. I still need to convey what our underlings have reported," Ghirahim began. "It seems that we've found the fire god."

"It would be wise not to jest, demon," Agahnim warned. "For all our searching, I'm beginning to become agitated by the lack of any results."

"I think there's some truth to this report," Veran chimed in, "You'd think somebody would recognize flame god slayer magic, even if they'd never seen it used before."

"True enough," the wizard conceded, "However, something disturbs me."

"If you're referring to how our minions returned empty handed, they were defeated. By a boy," Ghirahim informed.

"A boy defeated our minions," Onox repeated deadpan, "There really is no good help these days…"

Despite the general's dismissive statement, something rang to the five present. No ordinary boy would be able to defeat their minions. Whoever this boy was, he would have to be exceptionally skilled. But, no child would have gained that kind of prowess. They would have to be born with it. As though it were divine.

"I think that this warrants an investigation," Agahnim said before his body blurred and disappeared from sight.

* * *

"Dad?"

"Mmm…"

"Dad!"

"Daddy's hungover, sweetheart...Go bother the horses for a bit…And quit pullin' my sleeve..."

"No good, Epona. I think that trick only works on me."

*Neigh*

"Who the hell's that talkin…? New ranch hand?"

"Dad, this is the boy who helped us fight those men."

"Hoowhuh?..."

"He turned into a puppy."

"I don't remember seein' that…"

"I guess the pink elephants got in the way of the show. Hang on, I'll find something to dry out this old soak. I don't think there's ever been a more redundant sentence."

"Is that sass I hear, boy... Stow it, or I'm gonna smack it outta you…"

"Don't be so mean! He's the one who helped us just now."

"He's not gonna anymore if he keeps up that smart mouth of his…"

"You don't even know him! He hasn't said five sentences to you!"

"That doesn't mean I'm gonna let him sass me… Long as I'm runnin' this ranch, I'm gonna get the respect I deserve…"

"Sorry, sir. It's a bad habit of mine, but it's tough to kick. Here's a drink to make it up."

The drunk was only half conscious, which somehow only made the sudden feeling of a sharp, cold wetness splashing over him all the worse. Spitting and sputtering, he opened his eyes to the sight of his daughter, Epona, and Link, who was holding an empty bucket.

"Hope you like it on the rocks. The guy in the magic shop needed to get rid of some of his ice," Link explained.

"What the hell happened," Marley's dad asked as he wiped the dripping water from his face.

"You got drunk and passed out in the streets...again. This time after causing some collateral damage," Marley explained.

"Aw, crap in a hat! That's another expense I don't need," the drunk said as he sat up. Once he had, he locked eyes with Link and looked the boy over. "What's your deal? Runaway elf?"

"Yeah, the others in the tree kept telling me about a magical place where wine flows like rivers, so I went looking for it. I see you got there first," Link retorted.

Marley's eyes went wide when she heard what Link said to her dad. Admittedly, he was right, but it was still her dad he was talking about.

"Hey, keep that up, and your ass is fire- Oh yeah, you don't work for me," the drunk suddenly remembered.

"My pots! Look what's happened to my precious antique pots," a man yelled as he held shards of a decorative urn up to the four.

"Hey! Hey! I never touched your pots! I'm clean! If anything, I'm guilty of grand theft pepper," Link defended.

"Not you! Your stupid horse! She made mulch of my priceless collectibles!"

Epona nickered indignantly at the aspersion.

"Buddy, if you're collecting pots, you need a new hobby anyway," Link answered.

"There you are you little snatcher," a new voice said. Another man approached Link with smashed red peppers in his hands. "You think I can sell these!? I only just paid off the last shipment of peppers I got!"

"Maybe with a better display you'd attract more business," Link said before he reached into his pocket and produced two green stones. "Try dangling these in customer's faces."

"What the- What's a kid like you doing with precious stones like this," one of the men asked.

"They're from my elven treasure trove, and should cover the cost of any damages," Link explained, not telling either of them that green rupees were practically worthless.

"I don't care how he got them. As long as I can replace those pots, I'm happy," the first man said as he left with the second.

"You handled that pretty good, kid. You done this before," the drunk asked Link.

"We've kind of been doing this all day," Marley answered. "In fact, it's all we've done ever since you passed out."

"That, between looking for this Ravenscroft guy," Link added.

"Good luck with that, kid. Nobody's seen that old fart in years," the drunk answered as he wobbled to his feet.

"I tried to tell him that, but he seems dead set on finding out where he is," Marley answered.

"Well, somebody's got to. If I don't, someone else will, and then who knows what kind of trouble can happen next," Link reasoned.

"You may not be bright, but you got spunk, kid. You're gonna get far like that," he then offered his hand to shake, "Name's Tarley."

"Marley and Tarley," Link asked, knowing that sounded familiar, "I think I ate that at a foreign restaurant once."

Somewhere, a rimshot sounded.

"If I wasn't so hungover, I'd smack the sass out of you" Tarley said as he retracted his hand and placed it on his forehead. "Ah well. What's your name, kid?"

"Back home, people called me 'Get that damn horse out of my shop.' But, I prefer to go by Link," the boy answered.

"Can't you answer a question like a normal person," Tarley asked.

"Sorry, pal. It's a hundred rupees for that answer. Hundred and fifty if you want a straight one."

"I think that's a 'no,' dad," Marley answered.

"Hey!"

Down the road, they could see another angry townsperson coming toward them.

"And, that's our cue to hit the road," Link said as the whole group bolted down the street, away from any more angry merchants.

Unknown to them, they were all being watched by a stranger from the door of the magic shop. He had watched carefully the situation before him, and kept a special watch on the boy.

Admittedly, the boy bore a striking resemblance to the Hero of Legend, right down to the ridiculous, old-fashioned green garb. Then again, this boy acted nothing like the plucky young warrior he knew. This one was more like a bad comedian who didn't realize how terrible he was.

Still, there would be no sense in risking the chance. Something would have to be done, and the boy would have to be eliminated.

"Pardon me, good wizard, but are you here to buy something," the still-frozen shopkeeper asked.

"No. I'm merely browsing," Agahnim answered. "Actually, now that you mention it, I would like to purchase these three medallions."

"Ah, a wise choice, my friend," the shopkeeper said, trying to zip around the shop as he had done before, though found his efforts hindered by his frozen state, so he could only tremble. "The set will cost you thirty-thousand jewels."

"This may well cover the cost," Agahnim said as he placed a green rupee in the shopkeeper's icy hand.

"Ooh! I have something to appraise later."

"See that you do. Good day," Agahnim said before he departed in a swirl of frost that took all of the ice out of the shop, and freed the frozen man.

* * *

Outside the town, Link, Epona, Marley and Tarley all walked on the road under the setting sun. While they walked, Link found his mind going back to the unanswered question he had before.

"So, you never did tell me about this Ravenscroft guy," he said, breaking the silence.

Marley nor Tarley gave any answer. They continued to walk along as if nothing had been said, until the drunk spoke up.

"Well, I don't know if I'm the right guy to be tellin' this story, but I'll tell you what I know," Tarley began. "See, Ravenscroft wasn't just a person. It was the name of his magic guild, and he used to live right around here. What made this guy special was that he used a kind of magic that everyone else forgot about. Some scary crap called Fire God Slayer magic."

"You wanna throw me a map, 'cause I'm lost right now," Link said. "Sorry, but I don't really follow when you say 'magic guild,' and 'Fire God Slayer magic.' We don't have that kind of folksy vernacular where I'm from."

This was something that was unheard of to his company. Neither one of them had ever heard of anyone who had never heard of a magic guild, especially someone who already used magic, however strange it was.

"You seem kind of out of the loop, so I'll explain it to you later," Marley said, thinking more and more that he may have been serious about living in the woods, "Dad, can you finish your story for Link?"

"I'd better. This guy sounds like he's been under a rock in the bottom of a lake at the top of a mountain, so he'd better learn somethin'," Tarley agreed. "Anyway, this guy was a real big shot. Real popular with the community. Loved by his students. This guy did nothing but good: kept the town safe from monsters and bandits, helped out folks with their problems when he had the free time, and trained some of the most powerful wizards there are. Problem is, when somebody has the kind of power he had, you get the attention from the wrong kinds of people."

"Eventually, some new guys came to town. Real scary sons of bitches who kept roaming around like they were just loitering. But, nobody was fooled. Everyone knew they were there for a reason. Some folks tried askin' them to leave. You can imagine that didn't go so good. Other folks tried getting Ravenscroft to handle them, but that didn't work out either."

Link became slightly intrigued by the way that the drunk's face changed when he spoke his next words. He hopped on Epona's back so that he could simply focus on listening to the story.

"After a while, people started to think that maybe Ravenscroft was in cahoots with these guys. See, he was the only guy who acted like he didn't mind them being around. That, and people started disappearing."

"At first, nobody noticed a pattern, until three of Ravenscroft's mages went missing. Next thing we knew, all hell broke loose. Turned out that the strangers were scouting the town for mages, and abducting them. Some guy caught one of them knocking out one of Ravenscroft's students and running away with him."

"The people did what they could to stop them. But, the bastards kept coming. They killed anyone who got in their way, and plucked up any mages they found. Soon, every member of Ravenscroft was taken. And, when the man himself was called on, he turned a blind eye."

"After that, shit really hit the fan. The townspeople thought Ravenscroft had turned on them, and they resorted to violence. Big mistake. No one in their right mind would go after a mage that powerful, but folks weren't exactly rational at that moment. Ravenscroft used his magic to level half the town, along with most of the people in it. In fact, he went down with them."

"That was about thirty years ago. I was just a kid then, but I still remember that burst of black flames that flew into the sky. But, not a lot of people here talk about it. And, nobody's mentioned the name 'Ravenscroft' since. And, that's about the long and the short of it. So, what do you think, kid? Can I tell a story, or what?"

Link stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed at what he had just heard. No matter how much he experienced such things, like how Zant nearly killed the entire zora tribe at Lake Hylia, or when he turned his own people into monsters, Link never got used to it.

"What's the matter? Nothin' funny to say," Tarley asked.

"How can that be funny," Link asked. Normally, Link would try to calm his nerves with some kind of quick joke, but this was completely humor-stopping for him.

"I know. It's pretty scary stuff, isn't it," Marley asked. "I didn't sleep for a week when dad told me about it."

"You tell your kids about this," Link asked.

"Folks have gotta know these things. If everyone forgets, it's sure as hell gonna happen again," Tarley reasoned. "'Nuff about that. I still want to know who you are, and where the hell you came from. And keep that sass to a minimum, boy."

During the walk, Link and Marley filled in the drunk about what his life was like before. As it was with Marley, Tarley took in every word the boy said, though he didn't ask nearly as many questions as his daughter. It was when Link finished up his story that he spoke at all. "How'd you get here in the first place?"

"Yeah. I wanted to ask you about that, but then we started talking about your horse. Does it have anything to do with how you got separated," Marley asked.

Nerves snapped and frayed in Link's brain when he heard that question. He hadn't thought of a cover story beforehand, and was flailing to come up with a reasonable excuse. "...Mmmmmagical mishap?..." Link said after stalling for almost a minute.

Epona snorted incredulously at the lame excuse.

The two ranchers stared doubtfully at Link, making him feel like his head was about to explode.

"Good enough for me," Tarley said finally. "Just tell me one thing. Does everyone where you're from have ears like that?"

For the first time in his life, Link felt conscious of his pointed ears. Nobody ever mentioned them back home, but he learned a while ago that he was far from there. "Uh...not everyone. But, it's not a big deal. I think it'll be a big thing one day. People will start cropping their ears to look like mine!"

"Don't worry. I don't give a crap why your ears look like that. Just curious was all," Tarley assured him. "We're home now. You can stay in the shed over there. There's a cot and everything."

"Whoah, whoah, whoah! Are you inviting me to stay here? Doesn't that go against common sense," Link asked.

"Here's common sense for ya: a lost kid whose only companion is a horse shows up out of nowhere, and as soon as he arrives, he's followed by a bunch of kooks who try and abduct him, for what I assume to be his magical abilities. Sounds like that kid needs to stay safe, if you ask me."

"Sounds like you're still a little drunk if you ask me," Link answered.

"Hey, I might be-"

Tarley cut himself off.

"But...?" Link said, expecting a follow up.

"Nothin'. I'm just still a little drunk. So, get you and your horse settled before I sober up and kick your ass out. Marley, show these two around while I get the horses taken care of."

Tarley left, leaving the other three alone.

"So, I guess we'll go this way," Marley said as she guided Link and Epona away.

In the setting sun, the ranch seemed somehow nostalgic to Link. He could almost see the familiar sights of his home as he looked around, and would have thought it was, if not for Marley talking over his thoughts.

"Over there's the corral and track, where we let the horses run around and stretch their legs," she said as she pointed to the structure some distance away.

"Let the horses exercise, so you won't have to. We can ride on their backs, and still feel accomplished," Link said.

"Up there's the stable, where the horses stay. You can keep yours up there, if there's room," Marley continued after a brief giggle.

"Nah. She never did too good in stables. She's better just hitched up to a post. You might say she's an 'unstable' horse. And after the grief she gave you and your dad, I bet you'd agree."

Epona snorted as she swung at Link with her head, making him stagger off balance.

"One day, I'm going to get that head of yours registered as a lethal weapon," Link admonished his filly, who snorted at him again.

"And up there's the outhouse," Marley continued after another bout of giggling.

"I've always been suspicious of that name. Kind of makes me wonder what an 'inhouse' might be. Then again, maybe I shouldn't, considering the function of an outhouse."

"How did you get to be so funny," Marley asked.

"I'm an only child and an orphan. What was I supposed to do to get attention? Learn to fly? Since I wasn't going to grow wings anytime soon, I decided I'd better be funny," Link explained.

"It must have been hard growing up with no family," Marley said. "Didn't you have any relatives at all?"

It was something that Link rarely ever thought about. Only on the loneliest nights when he found himself unable to sleep did he ever think about any family he may have once had. He knew very little of his own parents, and nothing about any extended family. All he had ever known were the people he had grown up with in Ordon.

"Well...I didn't exactly have relatives. But, I was raised by most of the other villagers back home. I lived with Mayor Bo and Ilia for most of that time there. Then there was Rusl and his wife Uli. And their son, Colin, who was kind of the little brother I never had. And Fado, and Beth. And all the others there. They sort of filled in for what I never had."

"You miss them, don't you?"

"I...Well, yeah. I think it's going to be kind of a pain to adjust without them. It's, uh-"

"Link," Marley said, cutting him off, "It's alright to admit that you're scared you won't see them again. It's only what anyone in your position would be feeling."

She had seen right through him, making Link feel like he had been punched in the stomach again. Only this time, he didn't hate the feeling as much as before.

"It's not so bad, Link. I can tell that you're brave, and you've been in a lot of fights before. But, showing your friends when you're vulnerable is what makes you like the rest of us. Come on, I'll show you where you'll sleep."

Link nearly went catatonic as he approached the shed. In the short time he had known Marley, she had cut right past his facade of humor and confidence, making him feel bare and weak.

Marley opened the door to the shed, and since Link wasn't moving, Epona got behind him and pushed him forward with her head.

"So, here's the cot dad mentioned. I know it's kind of crowded in here, but we still keep a few things in this old shed. Mostly, the stuff that doesn't fit in the new one. I've got to go help dad now, so you two can get settled while I'm gone. I'll come get you when dinner's ready. Okay?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Alright. Bye." And with that, the girl left.

After all that had happened, the impact finally hit Link and sent him reeling onto the cot. Everything was taking it's toll on him, making him wish he was back home with all of his friends. He had so many questions he wanted to ask Marley and Tarley, but the clutter in his mind began to fade as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Link sharply awoke back in the twilit courtyard of Hyrule Castle.

"Oh, great! Not this again," he groaned, now having one more grievance to deal with.

He became aware of a presence behind him, not unlike the first time he met The Hero's Shade. However, he felt the presence was somehow darker than the skeleton' around, his jaw almost dropped at what he saw. Floating in the air before him was a diminutive, impish form with an ornate, broken helmet atop its head.

"Midna…" Link exhaled quietly when he saw her.

It made no sense. The last time he saw her, she sent himself and Zelda out of Hyrule Castle before she was killed by Ganondorf. Now, she was there before him alive and well.

"Link? Do you love me," Midna asked quietly.

"What?" The question struck Link like an arrow, but he did his best to respond. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"It's something I wanted to ask for a long time. I've seen the way you look at me, and for the longest time I've felt something that I didn't think I could for a being of the light."

"Midna...What...What are you saying," Link asked.

"Please, Link. Of all the times you shouldn't act like Link, this is one of them," Midna answered.

"Alright. Say what you need to," Link said, now giving her his full focused attention.

"I don't know if it ever meant anything to you, but whenever I touched you, and I saw the way you smile, something happened that always made our journey easier. I felt like I understood what it to have someone who I wanted to stay with above all others. Who I could follow to the ends of the world. And even die for them."

Link felt a slight pain in his chest when he heard the last sentence.

"I need to know, Link. Did you feel the same way?"

Link's heart raced as he thought of a way to answer. Even when he was talking to Midna, who he never had trouble talking with before, he was coming short of anything to say. Instead, he decided to simply be honest with her.

"I...Uh...Y...Yes…Yes. I think so…"

"You 'think so?'"

"Yes! I mean-I did. Midna I did. I loved you!"

Every one of Link's nerves were frayed when he spoke those words, but the burning feeling under his skin stopped when he saw Midna smile and slowly drift toward him.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Midna said as she placed her hands on either side of Link's face.

Their eyes met, and Link could feel a surge of familiar emotions boiling within him. However, it started to leave him as he watched the Twilight Princess's face change to a demonic smile.

There was no time for Link to comprehend Midna forcefully pressing her lips against his.

"Midna!? What are you doing," Link asked as he tried to push Midna away, though he found the tiny imp to be more persistent than he preferred.

"Make love to me Link! I need you so badly," she said as she pushed her face to Link's and her eyes suddenly turned solid white.

Whatever this was, it wasn't the Midna that Link knew. He tried to push her away from himself with more force, but couldn't escape her. Finally, he put his hands on her face and shoved with all his might.

Under the force of his push, Midna's neck snapped and twisted to an unnatural angle. Link was appalled by what he had done, and backed away as quick as he could to watch Midna start giggling impishly the way she had always done, while her head began spinning further in the direction it had twisted.

Soon, Midna's familiar giggle became a mad cackle that made Link feel like his head was going to explode.

After what seemed an eternity, Zant appeared next to the disfigured Midna, cackling loudly as he waved his hand and made the image of Midna disappear.

"You loved her," Zant shouted as he pointed at Link, his impossibly long arm placing his finger in front of the boy's face. "I can't believe this! This is too- This is too good! Bwahahahahahaha!"

Link clenched his fist as he heard Zant's mocking.

"What did you expect? That she would stay with you, and live happily ever after in your wretched light! Bwahahaha! You're even more naive than I thought! Ahaha!"

"Shut your goddess-damned mouth, Zant," Link threatened. After having his emotions toyed with, he was in no mood for the usurper king's antics.

"Or what? You'll cut me to pieces? With what weapons," he asked as he conjured black squares into his hands, which burst and became the master sword and the hylian shield.

"Where!?-But how!?-"

"Oh, I took these from you when I brought you here. I'm sorry to say, but these are the only things I managed to save, while everything else you had is hurtling through the infinite darkness between realms," Zant answered.

"Give me those. Now!"

"Fine. Suit yourself," Zant said as he nonchalantly tossed Link his equipment.

Link fumbled to catch the heavy metal items, and was knocked down when the shield was thrown at him.

"How strange. You were so light on your feet once before. Perhaps it was your love for Midna that attributed to your agility?"

"You son of a-" Link growled as he tried to wield his weapons. However, he found that he had trouble lifting them at all.

"Is everything alright? Perhaps we need to, as you hylians say, hit the gym? Or 'pump some iron?'"

"What did you do to my weapons?"

"Me? I didn't do anything. Your puny child frame simply can't carry their weight. Since you have no use for such things, I will be carrying them. Along with a few other things you may pick up," Zant said as he summoned the shard of twili magic that Link saw come from the man he defeated earlier. "Unless, you would like your sword and shield back."

Whatever Zant was planning, Link knew that he wouldn't like one bit of it. However, he did desire to possess his equipment again.

"What do you want me to do," Link said.

"Simple. I have another spell to teach you," Zant answered as he summoned Link's weapons back into his hands and dropped them on the ground. "Do you remember when I said that you would only be able to use magic in your wolf form? Well, as it turns out: I lied."

Link said nothing, but looked curiously at Zant.

"As you already know, someone like you using twili magic is excruciatingly difficult. And in your hylian form, you could be here for months to learn even the simplest storage spell. As such, I am going to allow you to learn this spell as a hylian, as I believe its will be more useful for you to use it in both forms. And it should prove more amusing for myself."

There were many things Link wanted to do to Zant, and none of them pleasant. But, he would have to restrain himself in order to learn a potentially useful technique.

Once again, an eternity passed as Link endured Zant's abusive training. The objective was to use dark magic to store his items as shadows, but every attempt was met with a failure, and Zant summoning increasingly large objects to pummel Link with.

There were points when Link simply refused to cooperate with Zant, who would only abuse him further when he did. Sometimes, he would continue to mock Link over his feelings for Midna. Whenever he did, Link would return to his lesson with twice the vigor, only to be met with another failure and more punishment.

Finally, Link saw his weapons darken, and disappear into black squares, before they reappeared in his own hand, and stabbed Zant through the middle with his sword.

"I see after almost a month you've finally mastered the Shadow Cabinet," Zant strained with the blade in his stomach. "Now, you can store what you need within this pocket of darkness."

Link said nothing, but magically stored his heavy sword into the darkness.

"I can see that you're weary of my presence. So, I will take my leave of you. Remember to practice your technique. And that love does not always conquer all."

With a sadistic grin, Zant melted away with the rest of the world.

* * *

Link awoke back in the shed, feeling not at all refreshed after his sleep. Needing to clear his head, he stepped outside while Epona curiously followed him. Once out in the open, he was greeted by the sight of Marley walking toward him.

"So, how do you like your room," she asked.

"Well, it suits my needs: shelter and privacy. And that's good for when I'm feeling lonely," he answered.

"I'm glad you like it," Marley said, not getting Link's innuendo. "Come on. Dad got dinner ready, and I think we deserve it after the day we had."

"Epona can come too, can't she?"

"Maybe. If she ate by the door or window."

"But, what about the draft? I don't want my baby to catch some equine flu!"

"She'd be outside, Link."

"She's not allowed inside? It's not like there's a dress code to eat at this place. She's already got shoes on, and that should be good enough!"

The two children talked back and forth as they walked toward the house. And though Link was enjoying his talk with Marley, he still had many questions to ask her. But, they would have to wait until he was inside. Until then, he would continue his joyful bantering.

 **A/N: How do you do people? Like this chapter? I did. So, we got to meet the villains this time around, and you may recognize them from previous Zelda Games.**

 **I get that a lot of people are likely wondering about Majora's oddball personality, but I feel like his situation is similar to Link's: we don't actually ever hear Majora speak, thus allowing us to apply our own personality to him. In this case, he's a fast talking wisecracker like a mix of Hades and Henny Youngman. Also, the form he takes is Majora's Incarnation, for anyone who was confused by the description.**

 **So, ranchers named Marley and Tarley? Those names sound familiar? Link missed it, but I'm sure you all get the reference. They will be Link's sort of companions for the time being. Not sure for how long, since I haven't thought that far ahead into the story.**

 **Heads up to those fans of the Midna x Link pairing: I don't think it's going to happen in this story. Sorry if I got your hopes up by the end of this chapter, but I don't know if they will reunite just yet. I myself feel this is a bummer, as I too am a fan of that pairing.**

 **That's about all for me. Rock on, folks \m/**


End file.
